He was a writer of paragraphs and short editorials. He always hoped to write something of permanent value, but the business of making a living took most of his time and he never got around to it. In his youth he felt an urge to reform the world, but during the latter years of his life he decided that he would be doing rather well if he kept himself out of jail. … When the last clod had fallen, workmen covered the grave with a granite slab bearing the inscription: "Submitted to the Publisher by Robert Quillen."
Self-written "Obituary" (24 March 1932), published 16 years prior to his actual death
As quoted in The Voice of Small-Town America: The Selected Writings of Robert Quillen, 1920-1948 (2008) by John Hammond Moore, p. 181
