It is always wise, as it is also fair, to test a man by the standards of his own day, and not by those of another.

For what I give, not what I take, For battle, not for victory, My prayer of thanks I make.

There are a few exceptions, however, to this rule that our projection of ourselves is lower than the facts of Nature, and the unicorn — noble, chaste, fierce yet beneficent, altruistic though solitary, strangely beautiful — is the clearest exception of all.

If the unicorn does live among the snows held up forever on the line of the Equator then it is clear why the world should know so little about them.

The question of historicity and actuality with regard to gods and unicorns is a relatively trifling matter which may be left to antiquarians and biologists, for both the god and the unicorn had a business to perform greater than any mere existence in the flesh could explain or provide a basis for.

One can enjoy a wood fire worthily only when he warms his thoughts by it as well as his hands and feet.