Bret

“What fearful shapes and shadows beset his path amidst the dim and ghastly glare of a snowy night! — With what wistful look did he eye every trembling ray of light streaming across the waste fields from some distant window! — How often was he appalled by some shrub covered with snow, which, like a sheeted spectre, beset his very path! — How often did he shrink with curdling awe at the sound of his own steps on the frosty crust beneath his feet ; and dread to look over his shoulder, lest he should behold some uncouth being tramping close behind him! — and how often was he thrown into complete dismay by some rushing blast, howling among the trees, in the idea that it was the Galloping Hessian on one of his nightly scourings!”
― Washington Irving, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow

“It is a glorious thing to stablish peace,
And kings approach the nearest unto God
By giving life and safety unto men

Queen Philllip – Act V, scene 1”
― William Shakespeare, King Edward III

“He was, in fact, an odd mixture of small shrewdness and simple credulity. His appetite for the marvelous, and his powers of digesting it, were equally extraordinary; and both had been increased by his residence in this spellbound region. No tale was too gross or monstrous for his capacious swallow.”
― Washington Irving, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow

“Liza. If I cant have kindness, I’ll have independence.

Higgins. Independence? That's middle class blasphemy. We are all dependent on one another, every soul of us on earth.”
― George Bernard Shaw, Pygmalion