“Men's evil manners live in brass; their virtues we write in water.”

“Though they may not always be handsome men doomed to evil posses the manly virtues.”

“Writing starts with living.—Rumors of Water: Thoughts on Creativity & Writing”

“We are much beholden to Machiavelli and others, that write what men do, and not what they ought to do . For it is not possible to join serpentine wisdom with the columbine innocency, except men know exactly all the conditions of the serpent; his baseness and going upon his belly, his volubility and lubricity, his envy and sting, and the rest; that is, all forms and natures of evil. For without this, virtue lieth open and unfenced. Nay, an honest man can do no good upon those that are wicked, to reclaim them, without the help of the knowledge of evil.”

“He said that the notion that evil is seldom rewarded was greatly overspoken for if there were no advantage to it then men would shun it and how could virtue then be attached to its repudiation?”

“Virtue is imaginative. Evil, repetitive.”