Thor
hammer-wielding Norse god associated with thunder, lightning, storms, oaks, strength, and fertility
Thor (/θɔr/; from Old Norse Þórr) is a hammer-wielding god of Norse mythology, associated with thunder, lightning, storms, oak trees, strength, the protection of humankind, and also hallowing, healing and fertility. A son of Odin, in wider Germanic mythology and paganism he was also known in Old English as Þunor and in Old High German as Donar (runic þonar ᚦᛟᚾᚨᚱ), stemming from a Common Germanic *Þunraz, meaning "thunder".
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Quotes
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- Thor was the God of Thunder and, frankly, acted like it.
- Douglas Adams, in The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul (1988), Ch. 7, p. 84
- "Immortals are what you wanted," said Thor in a low, quiet voice. "Immortals are what you got. It is a little hard on us. You wanted us to be for ever, so we are for ever. Then you forget about us. But we are still for ever. Now at last, many are dead, many are dying," he then added in a quiet voice, "but it takes a special effort."
"I can't even begin to understand what you're talking about," said Kate, "you say that I, we —"
"You can begin to understand," said Thor, angrily, "which is why I have come to you. Do you know that most people hardly see me? Hardly notice me at all? It is not that we are hidden. We are here. We move among you. My people. Your gods. You gave birth to us. You made us what you would not dare to be yourselves. Yet you will not acknowledge us. If I walk along one of your streets in this... world you have made for yourselves without us, then barely an eye will once flicker in my direction."
"Is this when you're wearing the helmet?"
"Especially when I'm wearing the helmet!"- Douglas Adams, in The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul (1988), Ch. 22, p. 225-226
- Well, what if I'm wrong, I mean — anybody could be wrong. We could all be wrong about the Flying Spaghetti Monster and the pink unicorn and the flying teapot. You happen to have been brought up, I would presume, in a Christian faith. You know what it's like to not believe in a particular faith because you're not a Muslim. You're not a Hindu. Why aren't you a Hindu? Because you happen to have been brought up in America, not in India. If you had been brought up in India, you'd be a Hindu. If you had been brought up in Denmark in the time of the Vikings, you'd be believing in Wotan and Thor. If you were brought up in classical Greece, you'd be believing in Zeus. If you were brought up in central Africa, you'd be believing in the great Juju up the mountain. There's no particular reason to pick on the Judeo-Christian god, in which by the sheerest accident you happen to have been brought up and ask me the question, "What if I'm wrong?" What if you're wrong about the great Juju at the bottom of the sea?
- Richard Dawkins, Answering audience questions after a reading of The God Delusion[1], Randolph-Macon Woman's College, (23 October 2006)
- Posed question: "This is probably going to be the most simplest one for you to answer, but: What if you're wrong?"
- Thaw with her gentle persuasion is more powerful than Thor with his hammer. The one melts, the other breaks into pieces.
- Henry David Thoreau, in "Spring", as quoted in Robert Frost & the New England Renaissance (1988) by George Monteiro, p. 74
- It seems to me clear that Thor was not a god at all but a hero. Nothing resembling a religion would picture anybodying resembling a god as groping like a pigmy in a great cavern, that turned out to be the glove of a giant. That is the glorious ignorance called adventure. Thor may have been a great adventurer; but to call him a god is like trying to compare Jehovah with Jack and the Beanstalk.
- G.K. Chesterton, in The Everlasting Man (1925), Ch. 5
