How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
[Francis] gave the desk a final kick and turned to glare impatiently at the skull: Why don't you grin at something else for a change? (2.16)
Skulls always serve to remind us of death, and two of them bookend this novel. We see the first one here. Ironically enough, Francis's skull will make its cameo at the novel's conclusion.
Quote #2
And the hate said: Let us stone and disembowel and burn the ones who did this thing. Let us make a holocaust of those who wrought this crime, together with their hirelings and their wise men; burning, let them perish, and all their works, their names, and even their memories. Let us destroy them all, and teach our children that the world is new, that they may know nothing of the deeds that went before. (6.11)
Two ideas for the price of one quote? Nice. First idea: notice how it's the "hate" saying these things, not the simpletons? This tiny detail points to a mass mental state controlling this era of death and violence. Second: people die, but they generally hope their works—artistic and scientific—will grant them a sort of life after death. A sort of immortality. Here, that idea gets the same "dust in the wind" treatment as everything else. Nothing lasts.
Quote #3
Brother Sarl finished the fifth page of his mathematical restoration, collapsed over his desk, and died a few hours later. Never mind. His notes were intact. Someone, after a century or two, would come along and find them interesting, would perhaps complete his work. Meanwhile, prayers ascended for the soul of Sarl. (8.4)
Depressing and morbidly funny, Sarl's death is probably the happiest in A Canticle. There's hope someone will come along and complete his work, but if nothing else, he at least has people praying for his soul. No one receives better in the whole novel.