And not a pale, characterless Sansculotte but a Marat. People pretend that the Bible means the same to them at 50 that it did at all former milestones in their journey. I wonder how they can lie so. It comes of practice, no doubt. They would not say that of Dick-ens's or Scott's books.
Nothing remains the same.
When a man goes back to look at the house of his childhood it has always shrunk. There is no instance of such a house being as big as the picture in memory and imagination call for. Why, to its correct dimensions. The house hasn't altered. This is the first time it has been in focus.