Faith vs. intellect

Exeter’s Squamscott Falls in 1907

“Never confuse faith, or belief — of any kind — with something even remotely intellectual.’’

From A Prayer for Owen Meany, a novel by John Irving about two boys growing up in the fictional small New Hampshire town of Gravesend in the 1950s and ‘60s. The town is based on Exeter, N.H., where Mr. Irving grew up. He now lives mostly in Canada but has a home in Vermont, too.