we know by the odour that occasionally we are visited by skunks, which are not poetic but very beautiful.

Money was their God; work their religion.

The wages of sin are the hardest debts on earth to pay, and they are always collected at inconvenient times and unexpected places.

Is he well educated?" "Yes, I think so, as far as he's gone," I answered. "Of course he will go on being educated every day of his life, same as father. He says it is all rot about 'finishing' your education. You never do. You learn more important things each day.

My publishers will make any kind of a beautiful book I design and send in to them, but ... For poetry they have less use than a rooster would have for skates.

We never know the timber of a man's soul until something cuts into him deeply and brings the grain out strong. You've the making of a mighty fine piece of furniture.

The seasons run with swift feet.