puritanism quotes

The most serious charge which can be brought against New England is not Puritanism but February.

-JosephWood Krutch
  The Twelve Seasons,'February'.

Puritanism. The haunting fear that someone, somewhere, may be happy.

- H(enry) L(ouis) Mencken
  Chrestomathy, ch.30.

My brothers and sister and I were brought up in an atmosphere which I would describe as 'Puritan decadence'. Puritanism names the behaviour which is condemned; Puritan decadence regards the name itself as indecent, and pretends that the object behind that name does not exist until it is named.

- Sir Stephen Harold Spender
World withinWorld, p.314^15.