弥尔顿和但丁是西方最伟大作家中最好斗的两位。学者们似乎都设法回避两人的凶悍犀利，甚至粉饰他们为虔诚之人。于是，C. S．刘易斯能够在《失乐园》中发现自己的“纯净基督教”（mere Christianity）；约翰·弗里切罗发现但丁是一位忠实的奥古斯丁信徒，满足于在“自我小说”（novel of the self）中模仿奥氏的《忏悔录》。正如我也开始认识到的，但丁创造性地修正了维吉尔（在众多人之中），其深刻性正如弥尔顿以自己的创作全然修正了他之前的所有作家一样（包括但丁）。但是，不管争斗中的作家是玩世者如乔叟、塞万提斯和莎士比亚，还是咄咄逼人者如但丁和弥尔顿，竞争是永存的。

《西方正典》

I think part of people’s abilities will disappear,such as humor that nobody sings praise of,upholding justice that has suffered a lot of losses,self-confidence that is unappreciated,and love that receives no response.These abilities are replaced by sadness and a new ability.That is an ability to protect yourself.我觉得人的一部分能力是会消失的。比如没有人捧场的幽默，吃过很多亏的仗义，不被欣赏的自信，还有得不到回应的爱。这些能力被心酸和新的能力代替，新的能力是保护自己。

Self-disciplined people are not all outstanding people. But nearly all outstanding people are self-disciplined people.Some of them keep reading every day. Some of them never get late.The real difference between an elite and the ordinary people is that an elite can manage himself.自律的人不一定都优秀，但优秀的人基本都是自律的。他们之中，有的人坚持每天看书，有的人坚持从不迟到。一个真正的精英与普通人的不同，就是他能够管住自己。