allegory quotes

Why, ever since Adam, who has got to the meaning of this great allegorythe world? Then we pygmies must be content to have our paper allegories but ill comprehended.

- Herman Melville
  Letter to Nathaniel Hawthorne, Nov.

But I cordially dislike allegory in all its manifestations, and always have done so since I grew old and wary enough to detect its presence.I much prefer history, true or feigned, with its varied applicability to the thought and experience of readers.

-J(ohn) R(onald) R(euel) Tolkien
  The Fellowship of the Ring, foreword.