Letter to a relative, (1861).
Context: I think I have fairly heard and fairly weighed the evidence on both sides, and I remain an utter disbeliever in almost all that you consider the most sacred truths [... ] I can see much to admire in all religions [... ] But whether there be a God and whatever be His nature; whether we have an immortal soul or not, or whatever may be our state after death, I can have no fear of having to suffer for the study of nature and the search for truth.
“Whatever pretended pessimists in search of notoriety may say, most people are naturally kind, at heart.”
Source: The Cream of the Jest (1917), Ch. 14 : Peculiar Conduct of a Personage
Help us to complete the source, original and additional information
James Branch Cabell 130
American author 1879–1958Related quotes
“I am by nature an optimist and by intellectual conviction a pessimist.”
“The spiritual quest begins, for most people, as a search for meaning.”
The Aquarian Conspiracy (1980), Chapter Eleven, Spiritual Adventure: Connection to the Source
Paris Review interview (1956)
Context: I don’t search for exactitude in portraying people. I try to give to imaginary people a kind of veracity. It would bore me to death to put into my novels the people I know. It seems to me that there are two kinds of trickery: the “fronts” people assume before one another’s eyes, and the “front” a writer puts on the face of reality.
1840s, Essays: First Series (1841), Friendship