- "While we frown upon circular reasoning; it often works well enough."
-- Patrick R. Bennett, Comparative Semitic Linguistics
- "The gods justified human life by living it themselves--the only satisfactory theodicy ever invented."
-- Friedrich Nietzsche, The Birth of Tragedy
- "There's no doubt that I'll do it badly; being more of a poet than an artist, I've always tackled themes beyond my powers"
-- Fyodor Dostoevsky
- "To take a man up very sharp, to demand sternly that he shall explain himself, to dodge to and fro with your questions, to pounce on every apparent inconsistency, may be a good way of exposing a false witness or a malingerer. Unfortunately, it is also the way of making sure that if a shy or tongue-tied man has a true and difficult tale to tell you will never learn it."
-- C. S. Lewis, An Experiment in Criticism