Infirmity and misery do not of necessity imply guilt. - Thomas de Quincey

For a philosopher should not see in the eyes of the poor limitary creature calling himself a man of the world, and filled with the narrow and self-regarding prejudices of birth and education, but should look upon himself as a Catholic creature, and as standing in an equal relation to high and low - to educated and uneducated, to the guilty and the innocent.

And although it is true that the calamities of my noviciate in London had struck root so deeply in my bodily constitution, that afterwards they shot up and flourished afresh, and grew into a noxious umbrage that has overshadowed and darkened my latter years, yet these second assaults of suffering were met with a fortitude more confirmed, with the resources of a maturer intellect, and with alleviations from sympathising affection — how deep and tender!

Hayatımda hiçbir zaman, insan biçimindeki herhangi bir yaratığa dokunmak ya da yaklaşmakla kendini kirlenmiş sayacak bir insan olmadım ben.