To produce a mighty book, you must choose a mighty theme.

The sea had jeeringly kept his finite body up, but drowned the infinite of his soul.

There are two places in the world where men can most effectively disappear - the city of London and the South Seas.

A chaplain is the minister of the Prince of Peace serving the host of the God of War--Mars. As such, he is as incongruous as a musket would be on the altar at Christmas. Why, then, is he there? Because he indirectly subserves the purpose attested by the cannon; because too he lends the sanction of the religion of the meek to that which practically is the abrogation of everything but brute Force.

Personal prudence, even when dictated by quite other than selfish considerations, surely is no special virtue in a military man; while an excessive love of glory, impassioning a less burning impulse, the honest sense of duty, is the first.

I have written a wicked book, and feel spotless as the lamb.

To treat of human actions is to deal wholly with second causes.