Stephen Crane

“To her the earth was composed of hardships and insults. She felt instant admiration for a man who openly defied it. She thought that if the grim angel of death should clutch his heart, Pete would shrug his shoulders and say, "Oh, ev'ryt'ing goes."She anticipated that he would come again shortly. She spent some of her week's pay in the purchase of flowered cretonne for a lambrequin. She made it with infinite care, and hung it to the slightly careening mantel over the stove in the kitchen. She studied it with painful anxiety from different points in the room. She wanted it to look well on Sunday night when, perhaps, Jimmie's friend would come. On Sunday night, however, Pete did not appear.Afterwards the girl looked at it with a sense of humiliation. She was now convinced that Pete was superior to admiration for lambrequins.”

“The girl, Maggie, blossomed in a mud puddle.”

“But I like itBecause it is bitter,And because it is my heart.”

“A man with a full stomach and the respect of his fellows had no business to scold about anything that he might think to be wrong in the ways of the universe, or even with the ways of society. Let the unfortunates rail; the others may play marbles.”

“It appeared that the swift wings of their desires would have shattered against the iron gates of the impossible.”

“The moon had been lighted and was hung in a treetop.”

“Camp fires, like red, peculiar blossoms, dotted the night.”

“There was a man with tongue of wood who essayed to sing,and in truth it was lamentable;but there was one who heard the clip-clapper of this tongue of wood,and knew what the man wished to sing,and with that the singer was content.”

“And it was as if fate had betrayed the soldier. In death it exposed to his enemies that poverty which in life he had perhaps concealed from his friends.”

“But he said, in substance, to himself that if the earth and moon were about to clash, many persons would doubtless plan to get upon the roofs to witness the collision.”

“Sometimes, the most profound of awakenings come wrapped in the quietest of moments.”

“The correspondent wondered ingenuously how in the name of all that was sane could there be people who thought it amusing to row a boat. It was not an amusement; it was a diabolical punishment, and even a genius of mental aberrations could never conclude that it was anything but a horror to the muscles and a crime against the back.”

“When the prophet, a complacent fat man,Arrived at the mountain-topHe cried: "Woe to my knowledge!I intended to see good white landsAnd bad black lands—But the scene is grey.”

“When the suicide arrived at the sky, the people there asked him: "Why?" He replied: "Because no one admired me.”

“Tell her thisAnd more,—That the king of the seasWeeps too, old, helpless man.The bustling fatesHeap his hands with corpsesUntil he stands like a childWith surplus of toys.”

“Two or three angelsCame near to the earth.They saw a fat church.Little black streams of peopleCame and went in continually.And the angels were puzzledTo know why the people went thus,And why they stayed so long within.”

“XXIVI saw a man pursuing the horizon;Round and round they sped.I was disturbed at this;I accosted the man."It is futile," I said,"You can never-""You lie" he criedAnd ran on.”

“XXA learned man came to me once.He said, "I know the way, - come."And I was overjoyed at this.Together we hastened,Soon, too soon, were weWhere my eyes were useless,And I knew not the ways of me feet.I clung to the hand of my friend;But at last he cried, "I am lost.”

“IVYes, I have a thousand tongues,And nine and nighty-nine lie.Though I strive to use the one,It will make no melody at my will, But is dead in my mouth.”

“LCVIIf I should cast off this tattered coat,And go free into the mighty sky;If I should find nothing thereBut a bast blue,Echoless, ignorant,-What then?”

“LVIA man feared that he might find an assassin;Another that he might find a victim.One was more wise than the other.”

“XXVIThere was set before me a mighty hill,And long days I climbedThrough regions of snow.When I had before me the summit-view,It seemed my laborHad been to see gardensLying at impossible distances.”

“XXVIII"Truth," said a traveller,"Is a rock, a mighty fortress;"Often have I been to it,"Even to its highest tower,"From whence the world looks black.""Truth," said a traveller,"Is a breath, a wind,"A shadow, a phantom;"Long have I pursued it,"But never have I touched "The hem of its garment."And I believed the second traveller;For truth was to meA breath, a wind, A shadow, a phantom,And never had I touchedThe hem of its garment.”

“She thinks my name is Freddie, you know, but of course it ain't. Ialways tell these people some name like that, because if they got ontoyour right name they might use it sometime. Understand?”

“Held his heart in his hands,And ate of it.I said: "Is it good, friend?""It is bitter - bitter," he answered;"But I like itBecause it is bitter,And because it is my heart.”

“He vaguely desired to walk around and around the body and stare; the impulse of the living to try to read in dead eyes the answer to the Question.”

“Over the river a golden ray of sun came through the hosts of leaden rain clouds.”

“Nevertheless, he had, on a certain star-lit evening, said wonderingly and quite reverently: "Deh moon looks like hell, don't it?”

“Within him, as he hurled himself forward, was born a love, a despairing fondness for this flag which was near him. It was a creation of beauty and invulnerability. It was a goddess, radiant, that bended its form with an imperious gesture to him. It was a woman, red and white, hating and loving, that called him with the voice of his hopes. Because no harm could come to it he endowed it with power. He kept near, as if it could be a saver of lives, and an imploring cry went from his mind.”

“As the landscape changed from brown to green, the army awakened, and began to tremble with eagerness at the noise of rumors.”

“The man had arrived at that stage of drunkenness where affection is felt for the universe.”

“They would jeer him, and, if practicable, pelt him with missiles.”

“A singular disadvantage of the sea lies in the fact that after successfully surmounting one wave you discover another behind it just as important and just as nervously anxious to do something effective in the way of swamping boats. In a ten-foot dinghy one can get an idea of the resources of the sea in the line of waves that is not probable to the average experience, which is never at sea in a dinghy.”

“A serious prophet upon predicting a flood should be the first man to climb a tree. This would demonstrate that he was indeed a seer.”

“Do not weep, maiden, for war is kind.Because your lover threw wild hands toward the sky And the affrighted steed ran on alone, Do not weep.War is kind.Hoarse, booming drums of the regiment, Little souls who thirst for fight, These men were born to drill and die.The unexplained glory flies above them, Great is the battle-god, great, and his kingdom -A field where a thousand corpses lie.Do not weep, babe, for war is kind.”

“Think as I think," said a man, "or you are abominably wicked; you are a toad." And after I thought of it, I said, "I will, then, be a toad.”

“The maddened four men followed frantically, for it is better to be in the presence of the awful than only within hearing. ("The Black Dog")”

“It was not well to drive men into final corners; at those moments they could all develop teeth and claws.”

“It perhaps might be said--if any one dared--that the most worthless literature of the world has been that which has been written by the men of one nation concerning the men of another.”

“He saw that it was an ironical thing for him to be running thus toward that which he had been at such pains to avoid.”

“Perhaps an individual must consider his own death to be the final phenomenon of nature.”

“A learned man came to me once.He said, "I know the way, -- come."And I was overjoyed at this.Together we hastened.Soon, too soon, were weWhere my eyes were useless,And I knew not the ways of my feet.I clung to the hand of my friend;But at last he cried, "I am lost.”

“There were many who went in huddled procession,They knew not wither,But, at any rate, success or calamityWould attend all in equality.There was one who sought a new road,He went into direful thickets,And ultimately he died thus, alone;But they said he had courage.”

“Half of tradition is a lie.”

“Mother, whose heart hung humble as a button the bright splendid shroud of your son,Do not weep.War is kind.”

“If I am going to be drowned—if I am going to be drowned—if I am going to be drowned, why, in the name of the seven mad gods who rule the sea, was I allowed to come thus far and contemplate sand and trees?”

“A Man Said to the UniverseA man said to the universe: “Sir, I exist!”“However,” replied the universe, “The fact has not created in me A sense of obligation.”

“When it occurs to a man that nature does not regard him as important, and that she feels she would not maim the universe by disposing of him, he at first wishes to throw bricks at the temple, and he hates deeply the fact that there are no bricks and no temples.”

“A MAN FEAREDA man feared that he might find an assassin;Another that he might find a victim.One was more wise than the other.”

“In the DesertIn the desert I saw a creature, naked, bestial, Who, squatting upon the ground, Held his heart in his hands, And ate of it. I said, “Is it good, friend?” “It is bitter—bitter,” he answered; “But I like it “Because it is bitter, “And because it is my heart.”