We are always more anxious to be distinguished for a talent which we do not possess, than to be praised for the fifteen which we do possess.

The joy of killing! the joy of seeing killing done - these are traits of the human race at large.

Never tell a lie-except for practice.

There was never yet an uninteresting life. Such a thing is an impossibility. Inside of the dullest exterior there is a drama, a comedy, and a tragedy.

Always obey your parents. When they are present. This is the best policy in the long run. Because if you don't, they will make you. Most parents think they know better than you do, and you can generally make more by humoring that superstition than you can by acting on your own better judgment.

Circumstances make man, not man circumstances.

He wa'n't no common dog, he wa'n't no mongrel; he was a composite. A composite dog is a dog that is made up of all the valuable qualities that's in the dog breed-kind of a syndicate; and a mongrel is made up of all riffraff that's left over.