Illuminatus quote about police
Dec. 17th, 2025 10:05 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
nancylebovI've been trying to find a quote from _Illuminatus!_ without, you know, actually rereading it, and a friendly person turned it up. It's about there being too few police to actually enforce laws.
https://www.astralcodexten.com/p/open-thread-412/comment/188217822
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It's near the beginning of "Book Five", which is in the third volume:
"He wouldn't travel far," Saul explained. "He'd be too paranoid--seeing police officers everywhere he went. And his imagination would vastly exaggerate the actual power of the government. There is only one law enforcement agent to each four hundred citizens in this country, but he would imagine the proportion reversed. The most secluded cabin would be too nerve-wracking for him. He'd imagine hordes of National Guardsmen and law officers of all sorts searching every square foot of woods in America. He really would. Procurers are very ordinary men, compared to hardened criminals. They think like ordinary people in most ways. The ordinary man and woman never commits a crime because they have the same exaggerated idea of our omnipotence." Saul's tone was neutral, descriptive, but in New York Rebecca's heart skipped a beat: This was the new Saul talking, the one who was no longer on the side of law and order."
Saul Goodman is a police officer who gains a better understanding of the world as the books go on. I was wondering how the passage looks now.
https://www.astralcodexten.com/p/open-thread-412/comment/188217822
*****
It's near the beginning of "Book Five", which is in the third volume:
"He wouldn't travel far," Saul explained. "He'd be too paranoid--seeing police officers everywhere he went. And his imagination would vastly exaggerate the actual power of the government. There is only one law enforcement agent to each four hundred citizens in this country, but he would imagine the proportion reversed. The most secluded cabin would be too nerve-wracking for him. He'd imagine hordes of National Guardsmen and law officers of all sorts searching every square foot of woods in America. He really would. Procurers are very ordinary men, compared to hardened criminals. They think like ordinary people in most ways. The ordinary man and woman never commits a crime because they have the same exaggerated idea of our omnipotence." Saul's tone was neutral, descriptive, but in New York Rebecca's heart skipped a beat: This was the new Saul talking, the one who was no longer on the side of law and order."
Saul Goodman is a police officer who gains a better understanding of the world as the books go on. I was wondering how the passage looks now.
no subject
Date: 2025-12-17 07:34 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2025-12-17 07:38 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2025-12-17 11:48 pm (UTC)I'm about two-thirds of the way through the first book, so it'll be a while before I get to that quotation.
I've also been told that the character Simon Moon is at least partially based on Neil Rest, which makes perfect sense.