We all seem to be playing with shadows more or less grotesque.

It all comes over me here so dismally! The very atmosphere of this cold, deserted church seems to mock at one's longing to believe in something.

Who cares for it now?
who comes to it?
who takes it seriously?
Poor stupid Assunta there gives in her adhesion in a jargon she does n't understand, and you and I, proper, passionless tourists, come lounging in to rest from a walk.

And yet the Catholic church was once the proudest institution in the world, and had quite its own way with men's souls.

When such a mighty structure as that turns out to have a flaw, what faith is one to put in one's poor little views and philosophies?
What is right and what is wrong?
What is one really to care for?
What is the proper rule of life?
I am tired of trying to discover, and I suspect it 's not worth the trouble.