There is a prodigious danger in the seeking of loose spirits. I fear it, I fear it. Let us rather blame ourselves.
– Arthur Miller
The Crucible, Act 1. Rebecca Nurse tries to be the voice of reason amid the growing hysteria of witches and the Devil being behind the illness afflicting Ruth Putnam and Betty Parris. She warns that it is dangerous to go searching for evil spirits – "I fear it." This is foreshadowing of how Salem will quickly descent into the madness of the witch trials.