William Winwood Reade

"One book that has influenced the writer very strongly is Winwood Reades Martyrdom of Man…It is still an extraordinarily inspiring presentation of human history as one consistent process."

"Reade was an emancipating writer because he seemed to speak as man to man to resolve history into an intelligible pattern in which there was no need for miracles. Even if he was wrong, he was grown-up."

"It is a sure criterion of the civilisation of ancient Egypt that the soldiers did not carry arms except on duty, and that the private citizens did not carry them at all."

"It may safely be asserted that the art of war will soon be reduced to a simple question of expenditure and credit, and that the largest purse will be the strongest arm."

"If we look into ourselves we discover propensities which declare that our intellects have arisen from a lower form; could our minds be made visible we should find them tailed."

"The first rational exposition of the relations of mankind to the mystery which shrouds the how and wherefore of man’s existence."