I saw that — that black thing squatting like an ape among the branches, leering down at me. - Robert E. Howard

It is only the promise of death that makes life worth living.

When I was a fighting-man, the kettle-drums they beat, The people scattered gold-dust before my horse’s feet; But now I am a great king, the people hound my track With poison in my wine-cup, and daggers at my back. – The Road of Kings.

I believe, like you, that civilization is a natural and inevitable consequence, whether good or evil I am not prepared to state.