When I take up one of Jane Austen's books ... I feel like a barkeep entering the kingdom of heaven. I know what his sensation would be and his private comments. He would not find the place to his taste, and he would probably say so.

The Mississippi River will always have its own way; no engineering skill can persuade it to do otherwise.

Damn these human beings; if I had invented them I would go hide my head in a bag.

You thunder and lightning too much; the reader ceases to get under the bed, by and by.

A man may have no bad habits and have worse

Public Servant: Persons chosen by the people to distribute the graft.

Between believing a thing and thinking you KNOW is only a small step and quickly taken.