For although this was a very heroic war, with a parade of every sort of high moral principle, and with the most sonorous language employed upon both sides, it somehow failed to bring about either the reformation or the ruin of humankind: and after the conclusion of the murdering and general breakage, the world went on pretty much as it has done after all other wars, with a vague notion that a deal of time and effort had been unprofitably invested, and a conviction that it would be inglorious to say so.
James Branch CabellI was born, I think, with the desire to make beautiful books — brave books that would preserve the glories of the Dream untarnished, and would re-create them for battered people, and re-awaken joy and magnanimity.
James Branch CabellBut with man the case is otherwise, in that when logic leads to any humiliating conclusion, the sole effect is to discredit logic.
James Branch CabellPeople must have both their dreams and their dinners in this world, and when we go out of it we must take what we find. That is all.
James Branch CabellGood and evil keep very exact accounts... and the face of every man is their ledger.
James Branch CabellI have read that the secret of gallantry is to accept the pleasures of life leisurely, and its inconveniences with a shrug; as well as that, among other requisites, the gallant person will always consider the world with a smile of toleration, and his own doings with a smile of honest amusement, and Heaven with a smile which is not distrustful — being thoroughly persuaded that God is kindlier than the genteel would regard as rational.
James Branch Cabell