Perry Miller

“Theirs was an errand into the wilderness.”

“Without a comprehension of Puritanism, there is no comprehension of America.”

“The Puritan dilemma was the necessity of living in the world without becoming worldly.”

“It was a piety that had learned to protest.”

“The Puritan was taught that he was put into the world to work.”

“I have been forced to recognize that the mind of man is the basic factor in human history.”

“The massive narrative of the movement of European culture into the vacant wilderness of America is the most enthralling single story in the history of the world.”

“The first Puritans were not dreamers or fanatics, but men of action, practical politicians, and successful men of business.”

“Hence for the Puritan, the chief end of man was not to enjoy life, but to glorify God.”

“The essence of the jeremiad is its complaint against a people who have betrayed their covenant.”

“They came to a wilderness, and they made a civilization.”

“American literature, from its beginning, has been a literature of lonely writers.”

“American history is the record of a sublime and tragic experiment.”

“The business of the historian is to connect what is past with what is present.”

“The errand of mankind has been a series of efforts to find a satisfaction for the terms of its existence.”