Saturday, April 19, 2008

If God is God, He is not good,
If God is good, He is not God.

An oft-quoted passage from Archibald MacLeish's verse play, JB, which is based on the Biblical book of Job.

The context is
I heard upon his dry dung heap,
That man cry out, who cannot sleep:
"If God is God, He is not good,
If God is good, He is not God;
Take the even, take the odd,
I would not sleep here if I could
Except for the little green leaves in the wood
And the wind on the water."