“Some people are oil and water.”

“As Pa said, censorship encouraged people to believe nonsense.”

“Before you have faith you must believe, and before you believe there must be evidence of some sort to persuade the mind. Faith is remembering that evidence and holding to it against all that seems to challenge or contradict it.”

“I wanted to ask which war---the Boer or the Crimean? It was amazing how old people could talk about The War, as though that meant something.”

“People may be persuaded that the machine is doing good. In fact, good is only capable of being done on a small scale. Evil is more versatile. You can hate those you have never seen, all the vast multitudes of them, but you can only love those you know — and that with difficulty.”

“Whisper to the flashing water your real name, write your signature in the sand, and shout your identity to the sky until it answers to you in thunder.”

“There are disappointments in all men's lives, even those who have achieved their ambition, and there are compensations.”