“This nation is like all the others that have been spewed upon the earth--ready to shout for any cause that will tickle its vanity or fill its pocket. What a hell of a heaven it will be when they get all these hypocrites assembled there!- Letter to J. H. Twichell, 1/29/1901”

“Nation after nation, when at the zenith of its power, has proclaimed itself invincible because its army could shake the earth with its tread and its ships could fill the seas, but these nations are dead, and we must build upon a different foundation if we would avoid their fate.”

“No, it's not fair, but what makes earth feel like Hell is our expectation that it should feel like Heaven.”

“There's a hell all right. It's just not where people say it is....It's here. It's life, or it's what we turn life into, I guess. It's like we have to pass through all this painful stuff to get to where we're supposed to be, on the other side.”

“Nothing is more important to a nation than its history. It is the earth upon which any society stands.”

“Still more horrible was the color of the flames that licked the latticed cabin vents before shooting skyward, as though - might I say? - the sun itself had crashed to earth, spewing its heavenly fire in all directions.”