“The softness, and the glare, and the temptations, and the licence, and the lax examples about us, are more seducing and dangerous than the winter of penal laws. They hardened the manhood of Catholic parents. The summer sun relaxes many.”

“That he, in his developed manhood, stood
A little sunburnt by the glare of life;
While I.. it seemed no sun had shone on me.”

“Now is the winter of our discontent
Made glorious summer by this sun of York.”

“Many a dangerous temptation comes to us in fine gay colours that are but skin-deep.”

“Psychoanalysis has taught that the dead – a dead parent, for example – can be more alive for us, more powerful, more scary, than the living. It is the question of ghosts.”

“And what do ye say then? — That Spring long departed
Has brought forth no child to the softness and showers;
— That we slept and we dreamed through the Summer of flowers;
We dreamed of the Winter, and waking dead-hearted
Found Winter upon us and waste of dull hours.”

“Soft words soften the hearts that are harder than rock, harsh words harden hearts that are softer than silk.”

“A people who are still, as it were, but in the gristle, and not yet hardened into the bone of manhood.”

“There was no death row at Cold Mountain, only E Block, set apart from the other four and about a quarter their size, brick instead of wood, with a horrible bare metal roof that glared in the summer sun like a delirious eyeball.”

“The pursuit of beauty is much more dangerous nonsense than the pursuit of truth or goodness, because it affords a stronger temptation to the ego.”