there are no gods: I should know, I've met a few

Useful day at work, but rather tiring.

I know I've quoted this before. I like it.

---

"He strikes a stone in the forest," she chanted, "stone bleeds blood. He dances savagely in the courtyard of the impertinent. He sets the liar's roof on fire."
[...]
"He's not a god," said Kadiatu.
"His temples are the preserves of priestesses," said the major. "It's women who dance for the Lightning God. His spirit possesses them through the dance."
"Why me?"
"Don't ask me that," said the major. "Ask the dead."
[...]
"Back there," said Kadiatu, "the major seemed to think you were Shango."
"Who's Shango?"
"Yoruba thunder god."
"Oh, Shango," said the Doctor. "Did you know the Yoruba have over two hundred deities?"
"Are you?"
"Mind you, Shintoism has thousands." The Doctor turned to look at her. "Do I look like a thunder god?"
"How would I know?" said Kadiatu. "I've never met one."
"Faced with the unexplained," said the Doctor, "people have a tendency to let their imaginations run wild. There are no gods. I should know, I've met a few."
"The Shango cult is almost exclusively female."
"People get the wrong end of the stick."
"I'll bet."
"It's true," said the Doctor. "I was in Ife during the tenth century and there may have been some static electricity involved. I was also in Mesopotamia in the time of Gilgamesh and I've visited all three Atlantises. It's not my fault. It's the planet, things happen there."

-- Transit, Ben Aaronovitch