I have known fear at the prospect of death; religious consolation, never.

Sin, above all, has been a word without significance to me.

As a boy, it was so; it is so still, now that I am self-conscious.

I have never been a deep student of philosophy, but the doctrine of philosophical necessity, the idea of Fate, is with me an instinct.

I know that I could not have acted otherwise than I did in any juncture of my life; I know that the future is beyond my control.