To be in opposition is not to be a nihilist.

Forget it. Never explain; never apologize. You can either write posthumously or you can't.

The museums of medieval Europe, from Holland to Tuscany, are crammed with instruments and devices upon which the holy men labored devoutly, in order to see how long they could keep someone alive while being roasted. It is not needful to go into further details, but there were also religious books of instruction in this art, and guides for the detection of heresy by pain.

I'd always somehow felt slightly as if I'd been born in the wrong country.

I don't want them (religious followers) trying to inflict their belief on me.

How is the United States at once the most conservative and commercial AND the most revolutionary society on Earth?

Why do humans exist? A major part of the answer: because Pikaia Gracilens survived the Burgess decimation.