# Lovecraftian Quote--Approximately. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 27, 2017, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lovecraftian-quote-approximately/785385 "2017-04-27T18:46:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2017, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lovecraftian-quote-approximately/785385/1 "2017-04-27T18:46:53Z")
> [@](#): > > Man has not always been the Master of this Earth…and, is he yet? I’m certain this quote isn’t quite right. I’m _not certain_ if it was Lovecraft, Howard, August Derelith, or somebody else who wrote it. Input? Source? Pie? ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2017, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lovecraftian-quote-approximately/785385/2 "2017-04-27T22:01:48Z")
Not one reply? To a Lovecraft Question? On the SDMB? Is this computer plugged in? ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2017, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lovecraftian-quote-approximately/785385/3 "2017-04-27T22:05:47Z")
I’d like coconut cream, please. ---
**Author:** ![G0sp3l](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c68b51/32.png) [@G0sp3l](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/G0sp3l)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2017, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lovecraftian-quote-approximately/785385/4 "2017-04-27T22:49:14Z")
There are others on the board far more knowledgeable about Lovecraft than me, I didn’t want to get in over my head. 🙂 I don’t think it’s Lovecraft himself, I _think_ I remember his more memorable phrases and your quote doesn’t ring any bells. It sounds like it could be a mangled memory of the opening to _The Call of Cthulhu_ or possibly someone imitating his style. Or I could be talking completely out of my a$$. I’ve never read The Fungi from Yuggoth. Sorry to be of absolutely no help. ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2017, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lovecraftian-quote-approximately/785385/5 "2017-04-27T22:51:58Z")
Wrong season for pumpkin pie. IANA SFbuff (not even in the same dimension as some of you Dopers), but it sounds like something Quatermass would say. Or, a character from one of Edgar Rice Burroughs dinosaur stories? Go on, have a big horse-laugh, but I’ll be back for my pie in October. Be there. Aloha. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2017, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lovecraftian-quote-approximately/785385/6 "2017-04-27T23:02:01Z")
> [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](#): > > IANA SFbuff (not even in the same dimension as some of you Dopers), but it sounds like something Quatermass would say. Or, a character from one of Edgar Rice Burroughs dinosaur stories? No, it’s from the Mythos. You win a Circus Peanut. It is stale. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2017, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lovecraftian-quote-approximately/785385/7 "2017-04-27T23:08:37Z")
It was Robert E. Howard, in _The Black Stone_. ---
**Author:** ![G0sp3l](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c68b51/32.png) [@G0sp3l](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/G0sp3l)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2017, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lovecraftian-quote-approximately/785385/8 "2017-04-27T23:25:31Z")
> [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](#): > > Wrong season for pumpkin pie. > > IANA SFbuff (not even in the same dimension as some of you Dopers), but it sounds like something Quatermass would say. Or, a character from one of Edgar Rice Burroughs dinosaur stories? > > Go on, have a big horse-laugh, but I’ll be back for my pie in October. Be there. Aloha. Slight hijack, speaking of Quatermass, a friend sent me an audiobook called _The Quatermass Memoirs_ that was very well done. Quatermass relating his “adventures” ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2017, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lovecraftian-quote-approximately/785385/9 "2017-04-28T00:02:48Z")
> [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](#): > > No, it’s from the Mythos. > You win a Circus Peanut. > It is stale. Aren’t they all? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2017, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lovecraftian-quote-approximately/785385/10 "2017-04-28T00:04:01Z")
Not always. Are they now? ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2017, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lovecraftian-quote-approximately/785385/11 "2017-04-28T01:05:55Z")
He meddled in things man was meant to leave alone! ---
**Author:** ![plankter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7ba0ec/32.png) [@plankter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/plankter)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2017, 1:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lovecraftian-quote-approximately/785385/12 "2017-04-28T13:10:09Z")
> [@](#): > > Man has not always been the Master of this Earth…and, is he yet? No Lovecraft expert I, but that sounds like a line from “[At The Mountains of Madness](http://www.hplovecraft.com/writings/texts/fiction/mm.aspx)”. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2017, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lovecraftian-quote-approximately/785385/13 "2017-04-28T13:16:46Z")
It doesn’t sound quite like Lovecraft. I could believe TOWP that it’s from Robert E. Howard’s Lovecraftian _The Black Stone_ – it’s more his style – but I’m at work, and can’t check my collection. In any event, plugging it into Google Books only turns up one source – this thread. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2017, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lovecraftian-quote-approximately/785385/14 "2017-04-28T13:23:54Z")
Well, yeah; plugging _that_ in gets no useful hits, or else **Bosda** wouldn’t have posted. But try plugging in _“Man was not always master of the earth – and is he now?”_ ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2017, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lovecraftian-quote-approximately/785385/15 "2017-04-28T16:20:40Z")
I’ve got Lovecraft’s complete work on my kindle and let some keywords of the alleged quote run through a search: the only passage that came close was from “The Dunwich Horror”, a passage from the _Necronomicon_ actually: > [@](#): > > “Nor is it to be thought,” ran the text as Armitage mentally translated it, “that man is either the oldest or the last of earth’s masters, or that the common bulk of life and substance walks alone. The Old Ones were, the Old Ones are, and the Old Ones shall be.” Could that be the quote? ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2017, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lovecraftian-quote-approximately/785385/16 "2017-04-28T16:59:14Z")
> [@EinsteinsHund](#): > > Could that be the quote? Possibly I’m being too subtle – or folks have me on ‘Ignore’ – or I made the mistake of not triumphantly specifying “Key Lime Pie” like a Doper in good standing. Be that as it may, the penultimate sentence of Robert E. Howard’s THE BLACK STONE is as follows: “Man was not always master of the earth – _and is he now?_” ---
**Author:** ![muldoonthief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muldoonthief/32/3188_2.png) [@muldoonthief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muldoonthief)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2017, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lovecraftian-quote-approximately/785385/17 "2017-04-28T17:16:14Z")
**The Other Waldo Pepper** (Johnson) is right! And _The Black Stone_ is definitely a story in the Lovecraftian vein, ancient horrors and such, not a straight swords & sorcery story. ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2017, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lovecraftian-quote-approximately/785385/18 "2017-04-28T17:32:26Z")
> [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#): > > Possibly I’m being too subtle – or folks have me on ‘Ignore’ – or I made the mistake of not triumphantly specifying “Key Lime Pie” like a Doper in good standing. > > Be that as it may, the penultimate sentence of Robert E. Howard’s THE BLACK STONE is as follows: “Man was not always master of the earth – _and is he now?_” Sorry, that went over my head. The probability of me being obtuse is definitely higher than you being too subtle ;). ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2017, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lovecraftian-quote-approximately/785385/19 "2017-04-28T19:39:32Z")
Here’s the story: [http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks06/0601711.txt](http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks06/0601711.txt) ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2017, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lovecraftian-quote-approximately/785385/20 "2017-04-28T20:07:39Z")
> [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#): > > It was Robert E. Howard, in _The Black Stone_. Spot on & many thanks. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lovecraftian-quote-approximately/785385.md?page=2)