Imagination was the great cozener of the past. — Philip José Farmer

I had the honor to serve at the siege of Arras. Where I received a thrust through the throat, the second of the serious wounds that convinced me, along with all else I had seen of wars miseries and horrors, that Mars was the stupidest of the gods.

As for the Bible, it was a book, and all books told the truth in the sense that their authors believed they were writing a kind of truth.

“You must not stereotype!” Cyrano cried.

“And you are right,” she said. “That is a feeling I loathe, and yet I find myself doing it all the time. However, so often…well, most people are living stereotypes, aren’t they?”