I am interested in the shape of ideas even if I do not believe in them. There is a wonderful sentence in Augustine ... 'Do not despair one of the thieves was saved do not presume one of the thieves was damned.' That sentence had a wonderful shape. It is the shape that matters. (Samuel Beckett)

I am interested in the shape of ideas even if I do not believe in them. There is a wonderful sentence in Augustine ... 'Do not despair one of the thieves was saved do not presume one of the thieves was damned.' That sentence had a wonderful shape. It is the shape that matters.

Samuel Beckett

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It would be easy to point out a paragraph in St. Augustine, or a sentence of Grotius that outweighs in influence the Acts of fifty Parliaments, and our cause owes more to Cicero and Seneca, to Vinet and Tocqueville, than to the laws of Lycurgus or the Five Codes of France.

John W. Campbell

The faith in which I was brought up assured me that I was better than other people I was saved, they were damned ... Our hymns were loaded with arroganceself-congratulation on how cozy we were with the Almighty and what a high opinion he had of us, what hell everybody else would catch comejudgment day.

Robert A. Heinlein

The advantage to being a wicked bastard is that everyone pesters the Lord on your behalf; if volume of prayers from my saintly enemies means anything, I'll be saved when the Archbishop of Canterbury is damned. It's a comforting thought.

George MacDonald Fraser

People aren't interested in the truth, Dafar. They're interested in what keeps them safe. They're interested in being looked after. They're interested in a tale being spun... Mighty men have moments of great despair that common people do not want to know about.

Melina Marchetta

Writing is hard work. A clear sentence is no accident. Very few sentences come out right the first time, or even the third time. Remember this in moments of despair. If you find that writing is hard, it's because it is hard. It's one of the hardest things that people do.

William Zinsser