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

“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.”

“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.”

“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.”

“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.”

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

“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.”