“Anyone who knows history, particularly the history of Europe, will, I think, recognize that the domination of education or of government by any one particular religious faith is never a happy arrangement for the people.”

“These men seem not to know that poetry has its particular rules and precepts; and that history is governed by others directly opposite.”

“History has never been dominated by majorities, but only by dedicated minorities who stand unconditionally on their faith.”

“The notion that one must know history in order to understand the present has a certain justification when applied to the history of events, but not for the structural history of society. Rather, the opposite is the case: to examine the *constitution* of a particular social and economic structure, one has to be already familiar with the *completed* structure. Only then will one know what to look for in history.”

“My reading of American religious history is that religion always functions best from the margins of society and not in the councils of power. Once you identify the faith with a particular candidate or party or with the quest for political influence, ultimately it is the faith that suffers. Compromise may work in politics. It's less appropriate to the realm of faith and belief.”

“Poetry is finer and more philosophical than history; for poetry expresses the universal, and history only the particular.”