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Whatever thing men call great, look for it in Joan of Arc, and there
you will find it. It took six thousand years to produce her; her like will not be seen
in the earth again in fifty thousand. She is easily and by far the most extraordinary person the human race
has ever produced. |
 1895 poster from Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division |
Privately, I myself never had a high opinion of Joan's Voices -- I mean in
some respects -- but that they were devils I do not believe. I think they were
saints, holy & pure & well meaning, but with the saint's natural incapacity
for business. Whatever a saint is, he is not clever. There are acres of history
to prove it. ... The voices meant Joan nothing but good, & I am sure they
did the very best they could with their equipment; but I also feel sure that
if they had let her alone her matters would sometimes have gone much better.
Remember, these things I have been saying are privacies -- let them go no further;
for I have no more desire to be damned than another.
- unpublished passage from Joan of Arc manuscript, quoted in Mark
Twain: A Literary Life by Everett Emerson, pp. 211-212
For more on Joan of Arc see Ben D. Kennedy's site:
http://www.maidofheaven.com
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