What, in the name of common-sense, had I to do with any better society than I had always lived in?

Nothing is more unaccountable than the spell that often lurks in a spoken word. A thought may be present to the mind, and two minds conscious of the same thought, but as long as it remains unspoken their familiar talk flows quietly over the hidden idea.

Such has often been my apathy, when objects long sought, and earnestly desired, were placed within my reach.

I have laughed, in bitterness and agony of heart, at the contrast between what I seem and what I am!

Sleeping or waking, we hear not the airy footsteps of the strange things that almost happen.

Easy reading is damn hard writing.

The moment when a man's head drops off is seldom or never, I am inclined to think, precisely the most agreeable of his life.