“The judge was a tall big man with blue eyes and a brown billy-goat beard and he seemed to me to be old, though he was only around forty years of age at that time. His manner was grave. On his deathbed he asked for a priest and became a Catholic. That was his wife’s religion. It was his own business and none of mine. If you had sentenced one hundred and sixty men to death and seen around eight of them swing, then maybe at the last minute you would feel the need of some stronger medicine than the Methodists could make. It is something to think about.”

                     --Charles Portis, True Grit, 1968

“TWO BELLS TOLL FOR THE COMING AMERICAN BICENTENNIAL, THE LIBERTY BELL AND ANOTHER — A DARK, SWAYING PHANTOM WHICH SOUNDS THE KNELL OF DEATH FOR FREEDOM AND A NEW BEGINNING FOR AN EVIL THAT WILL NOT DIE. BENEATH THE WESTERN WASTELANDS OF AMERICA, A NEW SOCIETY WORKS AND THRIVES FOR THE DAY IT CAN SWARM ACROSS OUR LAND…AND WHEN IT PLAYS ITS DEADLY GAMES THE CHEAPEST ITEM ON THE SCORE CARD IS HUMAN LIFE…”

                     --Jack Kirby, CAPTAIN AMERICA, Vol. 1, No. 197, 
                            "The Rocks Are Burning!" 1976