It is by the goodness of God that in our country we have those three unspeakably precious things: Freedom of speech, freedom of conscience, and the prudence never to practice either of them. Man will do many things to get himself loved, he will do all things to get himself envied. Nothing is so ignorant as a man’s left hand, except a lady’s watch. Be careless in your dress if you must, but keep a tidy soul. There is no such thing as “the Queen’s English.” The property has gone into the hands of a joint stock company and we own the bulk of the shares. “_Classic._” A book which people praise and don’t read. There are people who can do all fine and heroic things but one: keep from telling their happiness to the unhappy. Man is the Only Animal that Blushes. Or needs to. The universal brotherhood of man is our most precious possession, what there is of it. Let us be thankful for the fools. But for them the rest of us could not succeed. When people do not respect us we are sharply offended; yet deep down in his private heart no man much respects himself. Nature makes the locust with an appetite for crops: man would have made him with an appetite for sand. The spirit of wrath—not the words—is the sin; and the spirit of wrath is cursing. We begin to swear before we can talk. The man with a new idea is a Crank till the idea succeeds. Let us be grateful to Adam our benefactor. He cut us out of the “blessing” of idleness and won for us the “curse” of labor. Let us not be too particular. It is better to have old second-hand diamonds than none at all. The Autocrat of Russia possesses more power than any other man in the earth; but he cannot stop a sneeze. There are several good protections against temptations, but the surest is cowardice. Names are not always what they seem. The common Welsh name Bzjxxllwcp is pronounced Jackson. To succeed in the other trades, capacity must be shown; in the law, concealment of it will do. Prosperity is the best protector of principle. By trying we can easily learn to endure adversity. Another man’s, I mean. Few of us can stand prosperity. Another man’s, I mean. There is an old time toast which is golden for its beauty. “When you ascend the hill of prosperity may you not meet a friend.” Each person is born to one possession which outvalues all his others—his last breath. Hunger is the handmaid of genius. The old saw says, “Let a sleeping dog lie.” Right. Still, when there is much at stake it is better to get a newspaper to do it. It takes your enemy and your friend, working together, to hurt you to the heart; the one to slander you and the other to get the news to you. If the desire to kill and the opportunity to kill came always together, who would escape hanging?