George Sylvester Viereck

“ I am a light-bearer. I tread the high hills of mankind. . . I point the way to the future. I light up the abysses of the past. Were not my stature gigantic, how could I hold the torch in all men's sight? The very souls that I tread underfoot realise, as their dying gaze follows me, the possibilities with which the future is big. . . . Eternally secure, I carry the essence of what is cosmic . . . of what is divine. . . . I am Homer . . . Goethe . . . Shakespeare. ”

“ Shakespeare absorbed what was great in little men—a greatness that otherwise would have perished—and gave it a setting, a life.”
“A thief may plead the same. I understand you better. It is your inordinate vanity that prompts you to abuse your monstrous power.”
“You err. Self-love has never entered into my actions. I am careless of personal fame. Look at me, boy! As I stand before you I am Homer, I am Shakespeare. . . I am every cosmic manifestation in art. Men have doubted in each incarnation my individual existence. ”

“ Still he smiled, turning his luminous gaze upon the boy . . . and, behold . . . Ernest's hand began to shake . . . the chair fell from his grasp. . . He tried to call for help, but no sound issued from his lips. . . . Utterly paralysed he confronted . . . the Force. . . .
Minutes—eternities passed.
And still those eyes were fixed upon him. But this was no longer Reginald!
It was all brain . . . only brain . . . a tremendous brain-machine . . . infinitely complex . . . infinitely strong. Not more than a mile away Ethel endeavoured to call to him through the night. ”