A tragic situation exists precisely when virtue does not triumph but when it is still felt that man is nobler than the forces which destroy him.

"Good novels are not written by orthodoxy-sniffers, nor by people who are conscience-stricken about their own orthodoxy. Good novels are written by people who are not frightened."

"He was an embittered atheist (the sort of atheist who does not so much disbelieve in God as personally dislike Him)."