Great Throughts Treasury

"Circumstances alter cases."

"Civility is a cheap coin what is manufactured for nothing, and among folks in general goes further than dollars and cents."

"Climate, locality and occupation, form or vary character, but man is the same sort of critter everywhere."

"Coerced innocence is like an imprisoned lark, ? open the door, and it is off forever. The bird that roams through the sky and the groves unrestrained knows how to dodge the hawk and protect itself; but the caged one, the moment it leaves its bars and bolts behind, is pounced upon by the fowler or the vulture."

"Coerced innocence is like an imprisoned lark,--open the door, and it is off forever. The bird that roams through the sky and the groves unrestrained knows how to dodge the hawk and protect itself; but the caged one, the moment it leaves its bars and bolts behind, is pounced upon by the fowler or the vulture."

"Cold enough to freeze the hair off a dog's back."

"Contentment is, after all, simply refined indolence."

"Conversation is more than half the time a refuge from thought or a blind to conceal it."

"Death and taxes are inevitable."

"Don't stand shivering upon the bank; plunge in at once and have it over."

"Don't trade with a man that is over sanctimonious, or you will be taken in."

"Dream of that constable, his name is Fear, he'll be at your heels till you die."

"Every man's religion is his own, and nobody else's business."

"Every woman is in the wrong until she cries, and then she is in the right instantly."

"Everything has altered its dimensions, except the world we live in. The more we know of that, the smaller it seems. Time and distance have been abridged, remote countries have become accessible, and the antipodes are upon visiting terms. There is a reunion of the human race; and the family resemblance now that we begin to think alike, dress alike, and live alike, is very striking. The South Sea Islanders, and the inhabitants of China, import their fashions from Paris, and their fabrics from Manchester, while Rome and London supply missionaries to the ?ends of the earth,? to bring its inhabitants into ?one fold, under one Shepherd.? Who shall write a book of travels now? Livingstone has exhausted the subject. What field is there left for a future Munchausen? The far West and the far East have shaken hands and pirouetted together, and it is a matter of indifference whether you go to the moors in Scotland to shoot grouse, to South America to ride and alligator, or to Indian jungles to shoot tigers-there are the same facilities for reaching all, and steam will take you to either with the equal ease and rapidity. We have already talked with New York; and as soon as our speaking-trumpet is mended shall converse again. ?To waft a sigh from Indus to the pole,? is no longer a poetic phrase, but a plain matter of fact of daily occurrence. Men breakfast at home, and go fifty miles to their counting-houses, and when their work is done, return to dinner. They don?t go from London to the seaside, by way of change, once a year; but they live on the coast, and go to the city daily. The grand tour of our forefathers consisted in visiting the principle cities of Europe. It was a great effort, occupied a vast deal of time, cost a large sum of money, and was oftener attended with danger than advantage. It comprised what was then called, the world: whoever had performed it was said to have ?seen the world,? and all that it contained. The Grand Tour now means a voyage round the globe, and he who has not made it has seen nothing."

"Facts are stranger than fiction."

"Failures to heroic minds are the stepping stones to success."

"Fastidiousness is the envelope of indelicacy."

"Favoritism manifests itself in all departments of government, public and private. It is the harder to avoid, because it is so natural."

"Feller Citizens, this country is goin' to the dogs hand over hand."

"Fellows who have no tongues are often all eyes and ears."

"Fiddling and dancing, and serving the devil."

"Figures are the representatives of numbers, and not things."

"Give and take, live and let live, that's the word."

"Government, both in theory and practice, resides with the people."

"Happiness is rather a negative than a positive term in this world, and consists more in the absence of some things than in the presence of others."

"He drank like a fish."

"He marched up and down afore the street door like a peacock, as large as life and twice as natural."

"He who sports compliments, unless he takes good aim, may miss his mark, and be wounded by the recoil of his own weapon."

"Hear one side, and you will be in the dark; hear both sides, and all will be clear."

"Hope is a pleasant acquaintance, but an unsafe friend."

"Hurry is only admissible in catching flies."

"I always feel safe with these women folk, for I have always found that the road to a woman's heart lies through her child."

"I am a bird of passage - here today and gone tomorrow."

"I believe it is in politics as in other matters, honesty is the best policy."

"I do wish I could gist slip off my flesh and sit in my bones for a space, to cool myself."

"I don't like agitation, even for a good object."

"I guess I warn't born yesterday."

"I have some wrinkles on my horn, for I warn't born yesterday"

"I knew humility was the dress coat of pride."

"I like to let every feller grind his own axe."

"I put my clothes on as quick as a wink."

"I want you to see Peel, Stanley, Graham, Sheil, Russell, Macaulay, Old Joe, and soon. They are all upper-crust here."

"I was plaguy apt to talk turkey."

"I'd a made him make tracks."

"If a bear comes after you, Sam, you must be up and doin' or it's a gone goose with you."

"If folks will let the roses alone, the thorns will let them be."

"If I had my religion to choose, and warn't able to judge for myself, Ill tell you what Id do: Id jist ask myself, Who leads the best lives?"

"If it were not for a goodly supply of rumors, half true and half false, what would the gossips do?"

"If the sea was always calm, it would poison the universe."