"Nalgron was speaking of courage, of honor, of prudence, of thoughtfulness in giving and punctillio in keeping your word, of following your heart, of setting and unswervingly striving toward a high, romantic goal, of self-honesty in all these things but especially in recognizing your aversions and desires, of the need to close your ears to the fears and naggings of women, yet freely forgive them all their jealousies, attempted trammelings, and even extremest wickednesses, since these all sprang from their ungovernable love."

-- Fritz Leiber

What happened to the world in which things like this were written and published? It wasn't all that long ago, but it seems like another age of the earth. And it's not even great literature; it's pulp fiction.