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“The pine trees were rows of knife-blades whispering: “Fall upon us!�� and in the gathering darkness the torrent roared and howled, beating against its rocking prison walls with the frenzy of an everlasting despair.
“Padre!�� Arthur rose, shuddering, and drew back from the precipice. “It is like hell.��
“No, my son,�� Montanelli answered softly, “it is only like a human soul.”
― E.L. Voynich

“Monsignor Montan-n-nelli... is undoubtedly all you say, my dear doctor. In fact, he appears to be so much too good for this world that he ought to be politely escorted into the next.”
― E.L. Voynich

“Life is pretty much the same everywhere, it seemed; ugly, putrid, infested with vermin, full of shameful secrets and dark corners. Still, life is life, and he must make the best of it.”
― E L Voynich

“But the deadliest weapon I know is ridicule. If you can once succeed in rendering the Jesuits ludicrous, in making people laugh at them and their claims, you have conquered them without bloodshed.”
― E L Voynich

“I know you are offended with me,�� he said penitently, “for fooling that painted-up wax doll; but what can a fellow do?��
“Since you ask me, I do think it an ungenerous and—well—cowardly thing to hold one’s intellectual inferiors up to ridicule in that way; it’s like laughing at a cripple, or��”
― E L Voynich

“Cruel? Do you mean to the hunchback?��
“I mean—Of course the man himself was quite indifferent; no doubt, it is to him just a way of getting a living, like the circus-rider’s way or the columbine’s. But the thing makes one feel unhappy. It is humiliating; it is the degradation of a human being.��
“He probably is not any more degraded than he was to start with. Most of us are degraded in one way or another.”
― E L Voynich

“The portrait is faded, and a child’s face is always hard to read. But I should think that child would grow into unlucky man, and the wisest thing he could do would be to abstain from growing into a man at all.��
“W���?��
“Look at the line of the underlip. Th-th-that is the sort of nature that feels pain as pain and wrong as wrong; and the world has no r-r-room for such people; it needs people who feel nothing but their work,”
― E L Voynich

“We are all fit for better things than we ever do.”
― E L Voynich

“We are returning to the old subject; and this was to be a business talk. It is quite useless, I assure you, to tell me I might have done all sorts of things. I shall never do them now. But I may be able to help you in thinking out your plan. What is it?��
“You begin by telling me that it is useless for me to suggest anything, and then ask what I want to suggest. My plan requires your help in action, not only in thinking out.”
― E L Voynich

“I am quite satisfied with my position. The work I am doing is not of very much value, perhaps, but we all do what we can.”
― E L Voynich

“Tell me,�� she interrupted, “are you quite sure that these friends of yours can be trusted?��
“Quite sure. I know them personally, and have worked with them.��
”That is, they are members of the sect to which you belong? Forgive my scepticism, but I am always a little doubtful as to the accuracy of information received from secret societies. It seems to me that the habit⁠—��
"Who told you I belonged to a 'sect'?" he interrupted sharply.
“No one; I guessed it."
"Ah!" He leaned back in his chair and looked at her, frowning. “Do you always guess people's private affairs?�� he said after a moment.
“Very often. I am rather observant, and have a habit of putting things together. I tell you that so that you may be careful when you don't want me to know a thing.”
― E L Voynich

“I have not been much in the Romagna, but what little I have seen of the people has given me the impression that they have got, or are getting, into a mechanical habit of violence."
"Surely even that is better than a mechanical habit of obedience and submission.��
“I don’t think so. All mechanical habits are bad and slavish, and this one is ferocious as well.”
― E L Voynich

“I think we differ as to where the root of the mischief lies. You place it in a lack of appreciation of the value of human life.��
“Rather of the sacredness of human personality.��
“Put it as you like. To me the great cause of our muddles and mistakes seems to lie in the mental disease called religion.��
“Do you mean any religion in particular?��
“Oh, no! That is a mere question of external symptoms. The disease itself is what is called a religious attitude of mind. It is the morbid desire to set up a fetish and adore it, to fall down and worship something. It makes little difference whether the something be Jesus or Buddha or a tum-tum tree. You don't agree with me, of course. You may be atheist or agnostic or anything you like, but I could feel the religious temperament in you at five yards.”
― E L Voynich

“For my part, I believe in propaganda, propaganda, and propaganda; and when you can get it, open insurrection.”
― E L Voynich

“We had to shoot,�� he went on under his breath; “my mates and I. A man must obey orders. We bungled it, and had to fire again—and he laughed at us—he called us the awkward squad—and he'd been good to me——��.”
― E L Voynich

“As for me, I shall go out into the courtyard with as light a heart as any child starting home for the holidays. I have done my share of the work, and this death-sentence is the proof that I have done it thoroughly. They kill me because they are afraid of me; and what more can any man’s heart desire?”
― E L Voynich