Philosophy should always know that indifference is a militant thing. It batters down the walls of cities and murders the women and children amid the flames and the purloining of altar vessels. When it goes away it leaves smoking ruins, where lie citizens bayonetted through the throat. It is not a children's pastime like mere highway robbery.
Stephen CraneA serious prophet upon predicting a flood should be the first man to climb a tree. This would demonstrate that he was indeed a seer.
Stephen CraneHe saw that it was an ironical thing for him to be running thus toward that which he had been at such pains to avoid.
Stephen CraneIf I am going to be drowned โ if I am going to be drowned โ if I am going to be drowned, why in the name of the seven mad gods who rule the sea, was I allowed to come thus far and contemplate land and trees?
Stephen CraneA singular disadvantage of the sea lies in the fact that after successfully surmounting one wave you discover another behind it just as important and just as nervously anxious to do something effective in the way of swamping boats. In a ten-foot dinghy one can get an idea of the resources of the sea in the line of waves that is not probable to the average experience, which is never at sea in a dinghy.
Stephen Crane