Marion L. Starkey

Marion Lena Starkey (April 13, 1901 – December 18, 1991) was an American author of history books, including The Devil in Massachusetts: A Modern Enquiry into the Salem Witch Trials.

Quotes

The Devil in Massachusetts: A Modern Enquiry into the Salem Witch Trials (1949)

All page numbers from the trade paperback edition published by Anchor Books ISBN 0-385-03509-8

• It’s bad business meddling with the devil; it makes you superstitious.
  • Preface (p. 18)

• As every minister knows, a prayer is a superb device for airing an opinion.
  • Chapter 5, “Gospel Witch” (p. 72)

• At such moments the voice of reason always sounds like blasphemy and dissenters are of the devil.
  • Chapter 7, “John Proctor’s Jade” (p. 102)

• Treat a child like a witch and you’ll have one.
  • Chapter 12, “Village Circe” (p. 152)

• A fact will often show poor and plain in contrast to the leapings of imagination.
  • Chapter 17, “Eight Firebrands of Hell” (p. 205)

• Silence may have an eloquence of its own, but only in the long run.
  • Chapter 18, “The Ghost of Mary Esty” (p. 215)

• People at large were not enjoying an intellectual awakening where so recently they had succumbed to superstitious panic.
  • Chapter 18, “The Ghost of Mary Esty” (p. 221)

• Being ignored was a therapy that had rarely been tried upon these girls.
  • Chapter 18, “The Ghost of Mary Esty” (p. 223)

• If such were the will of God, what wonder that so many had turned to the devil?
  • Chapter 21, “Village Purge” (p. 248)

• Yes, he had been loyal to his friends, but even a wolf is loyal to other wolves.
  • Chapter 22, “We Walked in Clouds” (p. 262)

• Technicalities are, however, of more interest to historians than to contemporaries.
  • Chapter 22, “We Walked in Clouds” (p. 268)