| Proverbs & Sayings A work in progress! Have anything to add? --- All entries are listed in book order! |
| Click here for: "It is said..." Proverbs �Scavengers come to feast on the bodies of wounded tarnsmen.� It was a Gorean proverb, which seemed to be singularly inappropriate, coming from a hooded captive. -Tarnsman of Gor, pg. 116 There is a Gorean proverb that a man who is returning to his city is not to be detained. -Outlaw of Gor, pg. 37 "More real than the law is the heart," said the girl, quoting a proverb of the Tahari. -Tribesman of Gor, pg. 146 It is said, in a Gorean proverb, that a man, in his heart, desires freedom, and that a woman, in her belly, yearns for love. -Slave Girl of Gor, pg. 180 "The sword must drink until its thirst is satisfied," said Callimachus. It was a Gorean proverb. -Guardsman of Gor, pg. 17 "Beware the sleen that seems to sleep," is a Gorean proverb. -Guardsman of Gor, pg. 50 "Not directly," I said. "That would be transparent Kaissa, as it is said. Yet the enemy will expect us to dart for that opening." -Guardsman of Gor, pg. 80 Sayings Indeed, there is a saying on Gor, a saying whose origin is lost in the past of this strange planet, that one who speaks of Home Stones should stand, for matters of honour are here involved, and honour is respected in the barbaric codes of Gor. -Tarnsman of Gor, pg. 27 There is a saying on Gor that the laws of a city extend no further than its walls. -Outlaw of Gor, pg. 50 Once one has been a tarnsman, it is said, one must return again and again to the giant, savage birds. I think that this is a true saying. -Outaw of Gor, pg. 130 "We are of the same chain," I said. It was a saying we had developed in the mines. -Outlaw of Gor, pg. 163 Gorean thinking on this matter tends to be expressed by the saying that a slave girl grows bold if her lips are allowed to touch the name of her master. On the other hand, I, like many Gorean masters, provided the girl was not testing or challenging me, and provided that free women, or others, were not present whom I had no wish to offend or upset, preferred as a matter of fact to have my own name on the girl�s lips, for I think, with acknowledged vanity, that there are few sounds as pleasurable as the sound of one�s own name on the lips of a beautiful woman. -Priest-Kings of Gor, pg. 206 ..."your companion is peril and steel." It was on old Warrior saying. -Priest-Kings of Gor, pg. 307 There is a saying on Gor, "Gold has no caste." -Nomads of Gor, pg. 84 About peasants ...the peasants themselves, though regarded as the lowest caste on all Gor by most Goreans, call themselves proudly the ox on which the Home Stone rests, and I think their saying is true. -Raiders of Gor, pg. 3 �I mean you,� I said, �and your people, no harm.� I smiled. �I want only as much of your marsh as the width of my craft,� I said, �and that only for as long as it takes to pass.� This was a paraphrase of a saying common on Gor, given by passing strangers to those through whose territories they would travel: Only the span of the wings of my tarn, only the girth of my tharlarion, only the width of my body, and no more, and that but for the time it takes to pass. In Gorean, incidentally, the word for stranger and enemy are the same. -Raiders of Gor, pg. 11 A Gorean saying has it that only a fool would buy a woman clothed. I suppose it was true. -Captive of Gor, pg. 62 It is said that only a man knows how to tie a Turian camisk on a girl properly. There are many such saying on Gor. -Captive of Gor, pg. 160 I threw the cloak to the grass and knelt at his feet, as though chained. I looked up at him. He was now standing on his feet, and he looked down at me, tenderly. "I am chained at your feet," I said. It was a saying of a Gorean slave, to express her feelings. -Captive of Gor, pg. 347 "It is said," said Verna, "that Ka-la-na wine makes any woman a slave, if but for an hour." She looked at me. "Is it true?" -Captive of Gor, pg. 124 There is a Gorean saying that only a fool frees a slave girl. -Hunters of Gor, pg. 68 There is a Gorean saying that free women, raised gently in the high cylinders, in their robes of concealment, unarmed, untrained in weapons, may, by the slaver, be plucked like flowers. There is no such saying pertaining to panther girls. -Hunters of Gor, pg. 118 Panther girl specific �There is a saying among panther girls,� she said, �that any girl who permits herself to fall to men desires in her heart to be their slave.� �I have heard,� I said, �that panther girls, once conquered, make splendid slaves.� -Hunters of Gor, pg. 133-134 �What is to be done with me and my men?� I asked. �Curiosity,� she said, �is not becoming in a Kajirus.� I was silent. -Hunters of Gor, pg. 134 But the Goreans have a saying, which came to me in the darkness, in the hall, "Do not ask the stones or the trees how to live; they cannot tell you; they do not have tongues; do not ask the wise man how to live, for, if he knows, he will know he cannot tell you; if you would learn how to live, do not ask the question; its answer is not in the question but in the answer, which is not in words; do not ask how to live, but, instead, proceed to do so." -Marauders of Gor, pg. 9 In the codes of the warriors, there is a saying, "Be strong, and do as you will. The swords of others will set your limits." -Marauders of Gor, pg. 10 "Within the circle of each man's sword," say the codes of the warrior, "therein is each man a Ubar." "Steel is the coinage of the warrior," say the codes, "With it he purchases what pleases him." -Marauders of Gor, pg. 10 "Only in a collar can a woman be truly free." I said. It was a Gorean saying. -Tribesman of Gor, pg. 75 Tahari specific "The desert is my mother, and my father," said Hassan. It was a saying of the Tahari. -Tribesman of Gor, pg. 264 The Gorean peasant is a resolute, strong fellow, upright and stubborn, who prides himself on his land and his sovereignty. Also, he is usually the master of the Gorean longbow, in the wake of which liberty is often to be found. He who can bend the longbow, a peasant saying has it, cannot be slave. Women, of course, it might be noted, lack the strength to bend this bow. I suppose if they could bend the bow, the saying would not exist or would be altered. That is the way men are. Goreans enjoy making women slaves. -Slave Girl of Gor, pg. 112 "No," said the prisoner, "but there is a time and a place for speaking, as there is a time and a place for steel." "It is a saying of the warriors," said Borchoff. -Slave Girl of Gor, pg. 269 Slave girls relish compliments. Indeed, there is a Gorean saying to the effect that any woman who relishes a compliment is in her heart a slave girl. She wants to please. -Beasts of Gor, pg. 17 "No man respects a woman who knows what else to do with her," she said. "It is a Gorean saying," I said. -Beasts of Gor, pg. 434 �Only one can sit upon the throne,� said Msaliti. �That is a saying in the north,� I said. �I know,� said Msaliti. �But it is a saying that is also known east of Schendi.� -Explorers of Gor, pg. 237 �Beggers speak to beggers, and to Ubars,� I said. �It is a saying of Schendi,� he said. -Explorers of Gor, pg. 257 Most girls brought to Gor are brought as slaves. It is thus natural that their original names be regarded as the names of slaves. Many Goreans, even those educated to the second knowledge, that afforded the higher castes, find it hard to believe that the delicious Earth women who show up in their markets could possibly have been free on their native world. They are just too obviously marvelous slave meat. �If they were free, they should not have been,� say many Goreans. �At any rate,� they add, �they are now in the collar where they belong, and they will stay there!� It is true, incidentally, that a girl of Earth origin is almost never freed on Gor. They are on the whole just too wonderful, too desirable, to free. Perhaps one would have to be insane to free such a woman. Would it not be madness to let such beauties, kneeling before you, out of your collar? A Gorean saying, of the second knowledge, has it that a steel collar locked on the throat of an Earth woman is perfect. If you should be a female, and are reading this, and should be so unfortunate as to be taken to Gor as a slave, do not hope for freedom; rather learn your lessons swiftly and well, and resign yourself to the service of masters; fight your collar, if you wish, but in the end it will do you no good; you are slave. -Explorers of Gor, pg. 290 There is a saying in Gorean, that the chains of a slave girl are heaviest in Port Kar. I did not think, truthfully, however, that Port Kar was unusual in its treatment of female slaves. Gorean men, generally, are not easy with them. The saying is probably motivated not so much by an objective analysis of the treatment of enslaved women in that city as by the fear and distrust which Port Kar has historically precipitated in the hearts of its enemies. -Explorers of Gor, pg. 458 It is said on Gor that only slaves, outlaws and Priest-Kings, rumored to be the rulers of Gor, reputed to live in the remote Sardar Mountains, are without caste. This saying, however, it might be pointed out, as Goreans recognize, is not strictly true. For example, some individuals have lost caste, or been deprived of caste; some individuals have been born outside of caste; certain occupations are not traditionally associated with caste, such as gardening, domestic service and herding; and, indeed, there are entire cultures and peoples on Gor to whom caste is unknown. Similarly, caste lines tend sometimes to be vague, and the relation between castes and subcastes. Slavers, for example, sometimes think of themselves as being of the Merchants, and sometimes as being a separate caste. They do have their own colors, blue and yellow, those of the Merchants being white and gold. Too, are the bargemen of the Southern Cartius a caste or not? They think of themselves as such, but many do not see the matter in the same light. There are, on Gor, it might be mentioned, ways of raising and altering caste, but the Gorean seldom avails himself of these. -Fighting Slave of Gor, pg. 210 "...That is a situation in which many spears may mix the brew." It was a Gorean saying. The political situation was indeed complex, and might, by various parties, allies and enemies, and others, and even bystanders, be diversely influenced or exploited. -Fighting Slave of Gor, pg. 263 A Gorean saying has it that a leashed slave is a hot slave. -Fighting Slave of Gor, pg. 367 To beg to be purchased is a slave's act. That is a saying of Goreans. -Rogue of Gor, pg. 221 "Before the feast, go hungry." So say the Goreans. -Guardsman of Gor, pg. 175 I did not speak. 'Go hungry to the feast,' I thought, 'so say the Goreans.' And what a slave feast knelt before me! -Guardsman of Gor, pg. 182 "They all wear collars," is the first portion of a familiar exchange, of which Goreans are fond. The second, and concluding, portion of the exchange is, "But each in her collar is different." This exchange, I think, makes clear the attitude of the Gorean toward the slave girl. In one sense, she is nothing, and is to be treated as such, but, in another sense, she is precious, and is everything. -Guardsman of Gor, pg. 260 "He who ties a woman owns her," is a Gorean saying. -Guardsman of Gor, pg. 267 Curiosity is not becoming in a Kajira is a common Gorean saying. -Savages of Gor, pg. 60 The Goreans say that if one has never had a slave one has never had a woman. Similarly there is a secret saying, among Gorean men, that no female is a woman, who has not been made a slave. Savages of Gor, pg. 221 "To share the kettle of a friend," I said, "is to dine with a Ubar." "That, too, is a Gorean saying, isn't it?" asked Pumpkin. Blood Brothers of Gor, pg. 349 "It is said," he said, "that she who identifies with slaves wants the collar on her own neck." "No!" I cried. "It is only a saying," he said. "Another such saying is that she who identifies with slaves is a slave." Kajira of Gor, pg. 121 The Goreans have a saying, "There are only two kinds of women, slaves, and slaves." Kajira of Gor, pg. 137 There is a saying on Gor, �No musician can be a stranger.� This saying is sometimes, too, applied to members of the caste of players. Players of Gor, pg 294 On Gor there are many sayings about masters and slaves. One is in the form of a question and an answer. The question is, "What does a slave owe a Master?" The answer is, "Everything, and then a thousand times more." Dancer of Gor, pg. 189 If a command needs to be repeated, as the saying goes, the girl needs to be punished. If the girl thinks, however, that the command may have been, say, an inadvertence, or mistake, or that the master might relent, or something along these lines, she might, say , beg or inquire. She is reassured of the intent and seriousness of the command if, for example, she is asked if the command need be repeated... Dancer of Gor, pg. 212 There is a Gorean saying that only Priest-Kings, outlaws and slaves lack Home Stones. Dancer of Gor, pg. 389 There is a Gorean saying to the effect that among women there are only slaves who have masters and slaves who do not have masters. Some men fear the slave in a woman; others provide it with the mastering it longs for, and needs. Renegades of Gor, pg. 50 A Free woman begging to be slave "�I bare my breasts before you. Make me a slave,� �I surrender to you, naked. Spare me. I beg bondage,� �I have endeavored to conceal my true nature from men, that I am a slave. Visit justice upon me,� �I have stripped myself before you. let me live, that I may serve you as the most abject and loving of slaves,� and such sayings," I said. Renegades of Gor, pg. 241 The saying �Modesty is not permitted to slave girls,� is a saying then which is usually reserved for particular occasions, as, for example, if a girl might exhibit distress at being stripped for her sale, or, say, be tempted to balk at performing floor movements naked for business acquaintances of her master. Vagabonds of Gor, Ch 28 A Gorean saying came to mind, that the free woman is a riddle, the answer to which is the collar. Magicians of Gor, pg. 51 For example, �kajirus� is a common expression in Gorean for a male slave as is �kajira� for a female slave. The plural for slaves considered together, both male and female, or for more than one male slave is �kajiri�. The plural for female slaves is �kajirae�. Magicians of Gor, pg 438 A saying, a saying of men, of course, has it that all women are slaves, only that some are not yet in the collar. Witness of Gor, pg ? New to slavery "Her brand was still smoking," laughed another It was a saying. Witness of Gor, pg. ? "There is a saying," she said. "It is that there are two sorts of female slaves, those who are collared, and those who are not yet collared." Witness of Gor, pg. ? "Beat me," I said, "if you are not pleased." This, too, this saying, I had learned in the pens. Witness of Gor, pg. ? "Honor," I said, "has many voices, and many songs." He looked down at me, startled. "That is a saying of warriors," he said. "It is from the codes. It is a long time since I have heard it. I had almost forgotten it. Where did you, a slave, hear it?" Witness of Gor, pg. ? |