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August 10, 2014

"A depravity according to nature."

These men are true madmen, and of the most dangerous sort, for their lunacy is not continuous but occasional, evoked by some special object;

it is probably secretive, which is as much to say it is self-contained, so that when moreover, most active, it is to the average mind not distinguishable from sanity, and for the reason above suggested that whatever its aims may be--and the aim is never declared--the method and the outward proceeding are always perfectly rational. Such a one was Claggart, in whom was the mania of an evil nature, not engendered by vicious training or corrupting books or licentious living, but born with him and innate, in short "a depravity according to nature."
-- Melville, Billy Budd

Posted by gerardvanderleun at August 10, 2014 9:02 AM. This is an entry on the sideblog of American Digest: Check it out.

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A man born to be hanged will never drown.

Posted by: chasmatic [TypeKey Profile Page] at August 10, 2014 9:06 AM

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