The possession of unlimited power will make a despot of almost any man. There is a possible Nero in the gentlest human creature that walks.

Great orators who are not also great writers become very indistinct shadows to the generations following them. The spell vanishes with the voice.

October turned my maple's leaves to gold; The most are gone now; here and there one lingers: Soon these will slip from the twigs' weak hold, Like coins between a dying miser's fingers.

No bird has ever uttered note That was not in some first bird's throat; Since Eden's freshness and man's fall No rose has been original.

Dialect tempered with slang is an admirable medium of communication between persons who have nothing to say and persons who would not care for anything properly said.

The ring of a false coin is not more recognizable than that of a rhyme setting forth a false sorrow.

They fail, and they alone, who have not striven.