“There is no cruelty so inexorable and unrelenting as that which proceeds from a bigoted and presumptuous supposition of doing service to God. The victim of the fanatical persecutor will find that the stronger the motives he can urge for mercy are, the weaker will be his chance for obtaining it, for the merit of his destruction will be supposed to rise in value in proportion as it is effected at the expense of every feeling both of justice and of humanity.” FeelingsValuesHumanityJusticeChanceDestructionMercyStrongerVictimCrueltyMeritMotiveProportionUrgesExpensesFanaticismObtainingInexorablePresumptuousSuppositionUnrelentingService To God Book:Lacon: Or, Many Things in Few Words, Addressed to Those who Think Source: Lacon: Or, Many Things in Few Words, Addressed to Those who Think
“For more than twenty years he [Blanchard] toiled on through the most fatiguing paths of literary composition, mostly in periodicals, often anonymously; pleasing and lightly instructing thousands, but gaining none of the prizes, whether of weighty reputation or popular renown, which more fortunate chances, or more pretending modes of investing talent, have given in our day to men of half his merits.” MenYearsGivenChanceHalfPathTalentTwentiesInvestingReputationFortunateMeritPrizePretendingCompositionRenown Author:Samuel Laman Blanchard
“First loves are not necessarily more foolish than others; but the chances are certainly against them. Proximity of time or place, a variety of accidental circumstances more than the essential merits of the object, often produce what is called first love.” FirstsChanceObjectsProduceCircumstancesEssentialsFoolishVarietyMeritFirst LoveChances AreProximity Book:Works Source: Works
“We acquire the love of people who, being in our proximity, are presumed to know us; and we receive reputation or celebrity, from such as are not personally acquainted with us. Merit secures to us the regard of our honest neighbors, and good fortune that of the public. Esteem is the harvest of a whole life spent in usefulness; but reputation is often bestowed upon a chance action, and depends most on success.” PeopleKnowsWholeActionChanceHonestDependsRegardFortuneNeighborWhole LifeEsteemReputationMeritAcquireHarvestGood FortuneUsefulnessProximity Author:George Augustus Henry Sala
“No man is nobler born than another, unless he is born with better abilities and a more amiable disposition. They who make such a parade with their family pictures and pedigrees, are, properly speaking, rather to be called noted or notorious than noble persons. I thought it right to say this much, in order to repel the insolence of men who depend entirely upon chance and accidental circumstances for distinction, and not at all on public services and personal merit.” MenPersonsOrderBornChanceAbilityDependsCircumstancesNobleMeritDistinctionDispositionPublic ServiceParadesAncestryNotoriousAmiableInsolencePedigree Author:Seneca the Younger
“I had an idea for a medical conspiracy thriller. Since it was non-horror, I didn't want the publishers and editors bringing a lot of baggage - my history as a genre writer in the SF and horror fields, for instance - to the novel when they read it. I wanted them to consider the book solely on its own merits. So I called myself Colin Andrews. I was tired of seeing my books at floor level. Not that Herman Wouk and Phyllis Whitney and William Wharton are bad company, but I wanted to be up at eye level for a change, where people with bad backs could get a chance to see my books.” PeopleWantBookIdeasEyeWantedChanceLevelsCompanyNovelSeeingFieldsHorrorTiredMedicalInstanceGenreMeritEditorsConspiracyPublishersThrillersBaggageAndrewWhitneyBad Company Author:F. Paul Wilson