Matter-of-fact descriptions make the improbable seem real.

The Ancient Mariner seizes the guest at the wedding feast and will not let go until he has told all his story: the prototype of the bore.

Transcendence is something between a metaphor and a miracle.

Thinking about the universe has now been handed over to specialists. The rest of us merely read about it.

The lazy manage to keep up with the earth's rotation just as well as the industrious.

Pessimists fear becoming the dupes of Hope. Optimists enjoy Hope's company, and consider being duped no great matter.

Our public monuments are memorials to the Enlightenment.