"The only fictions that elude our suspicions, not to say (sooner or later) our contempt, are those to be found in the arts; embracing the inexpungeable defect of our pattern-seeking and pattern-making, artists cause the defect to become — or seem to become, in our apprehension of their handiwork — a virtue."
"He had a bad taste in his mouth which had nothing to do with his ordeals ... and, though nobody knew better than he how empty all vengeance is, an inexpungeable memory of Jillith."
"A morning newspaper should be a city's crown of glory, an intellectual Aurora ushering in the new-born day; but in Houston's case her chief newspaper is a sorrow's crown of sorrow, her inexpungeable badge of shame."