If I could, I would make such havoc among the shams of Palestine
that I would leave little there for men to feast their eyes and feed their fancies
upon save the Hill of Calvary, and the lesson it carries to the most careless
heart that pulses in its presence. I would leave it to tell of Him who suffered
there, and to suggest the picture of the Crucifixion more vividly than the multitude
of its surroundings, which are at best of questionable holiness, can ever do.
All things must pass away but that one Figure, and when they do, the world will
be none the loser for it. ... the Teacher of Nazareth, standing upon the height
of Calvary -- sacred because the theatre of the noblest self-sacrifice man has
yet conceived -- shall say to them that mourn this desolation, "Peace!
I am the Resurrection and the Life!"
- "I Rise to a Question of Privilege," Who
Is Mark Twain?
Jesus died to save men -- a small thing for an immortal to do, & didn't
save many, anyway; but if he had been damned for the race that would have been
act of a size proper to a god, & would have saved the whole race. However,
why should anybody want to save the human race, or damn it either? Does God
want its society? Does Satan?
- Notebook #42
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