Whether I shall turn out to be the hero of my own life, or whether that station will be held by anybody else, these pages must show.

I have been very fortunate in worldly matters; many men have worked much harder, and not succeeded half so well; but I never could have done what I have done, without the habits of punctuality, order, and diligence, without the determination to concentrate myself on one object at a time, no matter how quickly its successor should come upon its heels, which I then formed.

Break their hearts my pride and hope, break their hearts and have no mercy. -Miss Havisham

It is when our budding hopes are nipped beyond recovery by some rough wind, that we are the most disposed to picture to ourselves what flowers they might have borne, if they had flourished . . .

My dear young lady, crime, like death, is not confined to the old and withered alone. The youngest and fairest are too often its chosen victims.

Every traveler has a home of his own, and he learns to appreciate it the more from his wandering.

A merry Christmas to everybody! A happy New Year to all the world!