“While I knew him, he made me see--Poe did; made me understand that, unlike a bodily organ, the soul desires, even wills, its own continuance.It can be said to be the seat of will and desire and, even in its necrotic state, the root of evil. ... A Sunday school lesson or one of Cotton Mather's gaudy rants that helped to kindle the Salem bonfires is nearer to the truth of it than a fable by Poe, Hawthorne, or Melville. Evil's a malignancy beyond the skill and scalpel of {doctors} to heal or extirpate.” EvilEdgar Allan PoeThomas MoranAmerican MeteorCotton Mather Book:The Port-Wine Stain Source: The Port-Wine Stain
“Ravished is a nice word found in sentimental novel. Between us, Moran, the word that stuck in my mind like shit to the bottom of a shoe was fucked.” GuiltSexual AbuseThomas Moran Book:The Port-Wine Stain Source: The Port-Wine Stain