A thing is not necessarily true because a man dies for it. The Portrait of Mr. W. H.

History, as well as life itself, is complicated; neither life nor history is an enterprise for those who seek simplicity and consistency. Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed

To judge the appearances we receive of things, we should need a judicatory instrument; to verify this instrument, we should need a demonstration; to rectify this demonstration, we should need an instrument: so here we are arguing in a circle. Seeing the senses cannot decide our dispute, being themselves full of uncertainty, we must have recourse to Reason; there is no reason but must be built upon another reason, so here we are retreating backwards to all eternity. Essays

“Everywhere was in silence, like the velvet feet of death. And I was condemned to live; to live!” My Sweet Orange Tree