“The men and women, who desire to obtain seats in the celestial kingdom, will find that they must battle everyday.”

“Men are said to desire women, Severian. Why do they despise the women they obtain?”

“To consider this desirable would be to delight in the slaughter of men; and he who delights in the slaughter of men cannot get his will in the kingdom.”

“...men endeavor to sink us still lower, merely to render us alluring objects for a moment; and women, intoxicated by the adoration which men, under the influence of their senses, pay them, do not seek to obtain a durable interest in their hearts, or to become the friends of the fellow creatures who find amusement in their society.”

“Men go to far greater lengths to avoid what they fear than to obtain what they desire.”

“It all comes down, as it must, to the desires of individual men. Oh, and women too of course, bless their empty little heads.”