Commonplace Book

'...In his secret soul he would have preferred never to have been at all. But the Will of God: that Unquestionable Will. Here he was - whether he would or no - alive, called to a work, and called to give an account of himself at the Final day. He had a giant's frame, and people, as he went along, looked at him timidly. He appeared more than equal to the roughest blows the world could give. So he was - in physical strength and courage. But the secret, delicate soul within him shrank from every sight, sound, and touch - everything, to that mysterious and intimate sense, seemed too brutal, too harsh, too wearisome to be endured....He called it squeamishness and prayed against it, mortifying his exquisite taste at every opportunity.'

from The Serious Wooing by John Oliver Hobbes (Chapter V)