Modern engineers, after having erected a viaduct, insist upon subjecting it to a severe strain by a formal trial trip, before allowing it to be opened for public traffic; and it would almost seem that God, in employing moral agents for the carrying out of His purposes, secures that they shall be tested by some dreadful ordeal, before He fully commits to them the work which He wishes them to perform.

— William Mackergo Taylor Attributed Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers (1895)

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Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: William Mackergo Taylor (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.