These are merely terms to state the great reality-that everlasting warfare in man between the halos and the horns.

You see it in literature. Shakespeare put it down in two great speeches. In "Hamlet" he sees the halos: "What a piece of work is man, how noble in reason, in action how like an angel, in apprehension how like a god." Then something happened to Shakespeare, between "Hamlet" and "King Lear."

In "King Lear" he rubs against the horns: "Man is false of spirit' bloody of hand; a fox in stealth, a wolf in greediness, a lion in prey." All literature, poetry, fiction, history, is a continuing sermon on these two basic texts. They are both true, in different men and in a measure in the same man. Whichever way you look, this is the true story.

Human nature can be wonderful! Human nature can be terrible! Nothing it touches is wholly good, and nothing it touches is wholly evil. You look at it on some days, in some people, and you see it rise to heights of unbelievable greatness. You see human nature expressed in some ways that make you proud to belong to such a breed, who for all their pettiness and littleness have the capacity in them for something noble that rises at times to sheer God-likeness, and you want to stand up and cheer. You look at it on other days and in other people, and it is positively hideous.

"Man," said Pascal, "is an incomprehensible monster." You see human nature lie and cheat and kill-for a bit of land, a bit of power, a bit of love. You see it crawl like a snake in the grass, treacherous, brutal, repulsive, drunken and cruel; you want to put your foot on the thing and stamp it into the earth.

You wonder how in the world God can possibly put up with it, and you say, "The more I see of people, the more I like my dog."