Necessity, they say, is the mother of invention, but fear, too, is not barren of ingenious suggestions.

Necessity... the mother of invention.

He was obeyed, yet he inspired neither love nor fear, nor even respect. He inspired uneasiness. That was it!

How does one kill fear, I wonder? How do you shoot a spectre through the heart, slash off its spectral head, take it by its spectral throat?

And yet is not mankind itself, pushing on its blind way, driven by a dream of its greatness and its power upon the dark paths of excessive cruelty and of excessive devotion. And what is the pursuit of truth, after all?

This is glorious!' I cried, and then i looked at the sinner by my side. He sat with his head sunk on his breast and said 'Yes', without raising his eyes, as if afraid to see writ large on the clear sky of the offing the reproach of his romantic conscience.