I'd still like to be the President, of course, and I think the best way to do that would be to raise an army and seize the Capital. This strikes me as true democracy.

I have always found men quite fathomable. They look entirely to their own interest.

I Must warn you, Iris, that I'm not a believer. And though I'm sure that the revelations of other men must be a source of infinite satisfaction to them, individually, I shouldn't for one second be so presumptuous as to make a choice among the many thousands of recorded revelations of truth, accepting one at the expense of all the others: I might so easily choose wrong and get into eternal trouble. And you must admit that the selection is wide, and dangerous to the amateur.

That is sad until one recalls how many bad books the world may yet be spared because of the busyness of writers.

Do nothing that is not natural - and ritual is natural - and all will be for the best.

How marvelous books are, crossing worlds and centuries, defeating ignorance and, finally, cruel time itself.

Nothing human is finally calculable; even to ourselves we are strange.