1
Excuse me, sir?" "Do you wish to become a shepherd of souls? A minister of our church?" "No, " replied Hugh, frowning. "Why would I wish to?" "Your concern with souls, milord, invites me to believe that you ultimately may choose that path of occupation." Hugh made a face of disgust. "No. I wish to become a man. One must become a man, first, before he can choose to be anything else.Edward Cline
2
It was flawless, correct, and beautiful. 'This is mine, ' he said to himself. He felt tears well up in his eyes, tears of joy. Oh, what a blessing it was to be a man, to create, to labor and produce such a great thing - to be alive! It was a splendid thing he had done! He rose from his desk and looked down on the neat pile of paper before him with a smile and eyes narrowed in fierce, immaculate greed. He raised his arms in triumph, fists clenched, and laughed once. What a glorious thing is pride! It is almost an end in itself! No wonder churchmen preached against it! A truly proud man is not to be found in their flocks of souls humbled by the rumor of a great invisible wizard and the inexplicable! If it is a sin to feel such pride, then it is a sin to be a man! .Edward Cline
3
A boy adopts a hero for two reasons: because a hero captivates his soul and serves as a projection of his innermost self; and, because a hero seems to have solved many problems that may worry a boy, or at least demonstrates the capacity to solve them. The hero is an idealization of successful living, even though he may die in a story. The death may be gallant, brave, tragic, or perhaps even foolhardy. But living or dead, a hero is the stylistic embodiment of living on one’s own terms — noble terms, grand terms, exciting terms — terms, in short, that complement any youth’s uncorrupted, untamed, unabridged projection of what is possible to him in life.Edward Cline