His wife had held him in her arms as if she could keep death away from him. He had cried out, "My God, I am a… — Philip José Farmer

Burton, though an infidel, made it his business to investigate thoroughly every religion. Know a man’s faith, and you knew at least half the man. Know his wife, and you knew the other half.

Burton did not believe in miracles. Nothing happened that could not be explained by physical principles — if you knew all the facts.

All the human beings I met were either sure that there would be no afterlife or else that they would get preferential treatment in the hereafter.