Good Omens

by

Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett

Teachers and parents! Our Teacher Edition on Good Omens makes teaching easy.

God Character Analysis

Like Satan, God never appears directly in the novel. He rules over Heaven and is the mastermind behind the “Ineffable Plan”—that is, his unknowable and unchangeable plan for the universe. Crowley in particular takes issue with some of God’s practices and beliefs. He doesn’t agree with God that the only way to test His creation is to push it to the brink of disaster, as with Armageddon (the prophesied end of the world). He also takes issue with God’s choice to test Adam and Eve by pointing out the Tree of Knowledge, telling them to not eat the fruit on it, and then punishing them for their curiosity when they disobey.

God Quotes in Good Omens

The Good Omens quotes below are all either spoken by God or refer to God. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Good and Evil Theme Icon
).
Eleven Years Ago Quotes

And that’d be that. No more world. That’s what the end of the world meant. No more world. Just endless Heaven or, depending on who won, endless Hell. Crowley didn’t know which was worse.

Well, Hell was worse, of course, by definition. But Crowley remembered what Heaven was like, and it had quite a few things in common with Hell. You couldn’t get a decent drink in either of them, for a start. And the boredom you got in Heaven was almost as bad as the excitement you got in Hell.

But there was no getting out of it. You couldn’t be a demon and have free will.

Related Characters: Crowley/Crawly, Adam Young/The Antichrist, God
Page Number: 20
Explanation and Analysis:

It may help to understand human affairs to be clear that most of the great triumphs and tragedies of history are caused, not by people being fundamentally good or fundamentally bad, but by people being fundamentally people.

Related Characters: Crowley/Crawly, Adam Young/The Antichrist, Sister Mary Loquacious/Mary Hodges, God
Page Number: 26
Explanation and Analysis:
Saturday Quotes

“Tye yt well,” she said to the astonished witchfinder. And then, as the villagers sidled toward the pyre, she raised her handsome head in the firelight and said, “Gather ye ryte close, goode people. Come close untyl the fire near scorch ye, for I charge ye that alle must see how thee last true wytch in England dies. For wytch I am, for soe I am judgéd, yette I knoe not what my true Cryme may be. And therefore let myne death be a messuage to the worlde. Gather ye ryte close, I saye, and marke well the fate of alle who meddle with such as theye do notte understande.”

And, apparently, she smiled and looked up at the sky over the village and added, “That goes for you as welle, yowe daft old foole.”

Related Characters: Agnes Nutter (speaker), Newton “Newt” Pulsifer, Mr. Shadwell, God
Page Number: 185
Explanation and Analysis:

“I don’t see what’s so triffic about creating people as people and then gettin’ upset ‘cos they act like people,” said Adam severely. “Anyway, if you stopped tellin’ people it’s all sorted out after they’re dead, they might try sorting it all out while they’re alive.”

Related Characters: Adam Young/The Antichrist (speaker), Satan, God, The Metatron, Beelzebub
Page Number: 335
Explanation and Analysis:

Everyone found their eyes turning toward Adam. He seemed to be thinking very carefully.

Then he said: “I don’t see why it matters what is written. Not when it’s about people. It can always be crossed out.”

Related Characters: Adam Young/The Antichrist (speaker), Aziraphale, Crowley/Crawly, Satan, God, The Metatron, Beelzebub
Page Number: 337
Explanation and Analysis:
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Good Omens PDF

God Quotes in Good Omens

The Good Omens quotes below are all either spoken by God or refer to God. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Good and Evil Theme Icon
).
Eleven Years Ago Quotes

And that’d be that. No more world. That’s what the end of the world meant. No more world. Just endless Heaven or, depending on who won, endless Hell. Crowley didn’t know which was worse.

Well, Hell was worse, of course, by definition. But Crowley remembered what Heaven was like, and it had quite a few things in common with Hell. You couldn’t get a decent drink in either of them, for a start. And the boredom you got in Heaven was almost as bad as the excitement you got in Hell.

But there was no getting out of it. You couldn’t be a demon and have free will.

Related Characters: Crowley/Crawly, Adam Young/The Antichrist, God
Page Number: 20
Explanation and Analysis:

It may help to understand human affairs to be clear that most of the great triumphs and tragedies of history are caused, not by people being fundamentally good or fundamentally bad, but by people being fundamentally people.

Related Characters: Crowley/Crawly, Adam Young/The Antichrist, Sister Mary Loquacious/Mary Hodges, God
Page Number: 26
Explanation and Analysis:
Saturday Quotes

“Tye yt well,” she said to the astonished witchfinder. And then, as the villagers sidled toward the pyre, she raised her handsome head in the firelight and said, “Gather ye ryte close, goode people. Come close untyl the fire near scorch ye, for I charge ye that alle must see how thee last true wytch in England dies. For wytch I am, for soe I am judgéd, yette I knoe not what my true Cryme may be. And therefore let myne death be a messuage to the worlde. Gather ye ryte close, I saye, and marke well the fate of alle who meddle with such as theye do notte understande.”

And, apparently, she smiled and looked up at the sky over the village and added, “That goes for you as welle, yowe daft old foole.”

Related Characters: Agnes Nutter (speaker), Newton “Newt” Pulsifer, Mr. Shadwell, God
Page Number: 185
Explanation and Analysis:

“I don’t see what’s so triffic about creating people as people and then gettin’ upset ‘cos they act like people,” said Adam severely. “Anyway, if you stopped tellin’ people it’s all sorted out after they’re dead, they might try sorting it all out while they’re alive.”

Related Characters: Adam Young/The Antichrist (speaker), Satan, God, The Metatron, Beelzebub
Page Number: 335
Explanation and Analysis:

Everyone found their eyes turning toward Adam. He seemed to be thinking very carefully.

Then he said: “I don’t see why it matters what is written. Not when it’s about people. It can always be crossed out.”

Related Characters: Adam Young/The Antichrist (speaker), Aziraphale, Crowley/Crawly, Satan, God, The Metatron, Beelzebub
Page Number: 337
Explanation and Analysis: