Girls had a way of blotting out all lesser, but not thereby despicable, delights. Girls were for dessert. - Fritz Leiber

And the mighty are great worriers and spend much time preventing anything that troubles their peace of mind.

For the gods have very sharp ears for boasts, or for declarations of happiness and self-satisfaction, or for assertions of a firm intention to do this or that, or for statements that this or that must surely happen, or any other words hinting that a man is in the slightest control of his own destiny. And the gods are jealous, easily angered, perverse, and swift to thwart.

I think all modern cities, especially the crass, newly built, highly industrial ones, should have ghosts. They are a civilizing influence.