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I knew then that they had been men, neither gods nor demons. It is a great knowledge, hard to tell and believe. They were men — they went a dark road, but they were men.

— Stephen Vincent Benét By the Waters of Babylon (1937)

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More quotes by Stephen Vincent Benét

Something begins.
Something is full of change and sparkling stars.
Something is loosed that changes all the world.

A Child is Born (1942)

Rise up! The loves we had were not enough.
Something is loosed to change the shaken world,
And with it we must change!

A Child is Born (1942)

We are the earth his word must sow like wheat
And, if it finds no earth, it cannot grow.

A Child is Born (1942)

The north and the west and the south are good hunting ground, but it is forbidden to go east.

By the Waters of Babylon (1937)

The time is — time. The place is anywhere.
The voices speak to you across the air
To say that once again a child is born.
A child is born.

A Child is Born (1942)

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Be not afraid of life. Believe that life is worth living, and your belief will help create the fact.

William James The Will to Believe and Other Essays in Popular Philosophy (1897)

Question with boldness even the existence of a god; because, if there be one, he must more approve the homage of reason, than that of blindfolded fear.

Thomas Jefferson Letter to Peter Carr (1787)

I had never doubted my own abilities, but I was quite prepared to believe that "the world" would decline to recognize them.

Colin Wilson Postscript to the Outsider (1967)

Love is the active, working principle in all true faith. It is its very soul, without which it is dead. "Faith works by love."

Jonathan Edwards Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers (1895)

Attribution

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