"Two centuries of survival had taught him that a bribe must be offered as gently and indirectly as a gallant suggestion made to a proud lady."
Methuselah's Children: How Close Under the Skin Lay Lynch Law and Mob Violence
"...they were better off all arrested at once and placed under guard. If they had been smelled out one at a time, anything could have happened–lynchings, even pogroms. Lazarus knew from hard experience how close under the skin lay lynch law and mob violence in the most sweetly civilized..."
Methuselah's Children: Scalawags, Demagogues, Ambitious Men on Horseback
"Whenever the citizens fix their attention on one issue to the exclusion of others, the situation is ripe for scalawags, demagogues, ambitious men on horseback."