"I used to take pledges - and soon violate them. My will was not strong, and I could not help it. And then, two be tied in any way naturally irks and otherwise free person and makes him chafe in his bonds and want to get him liberty." Chap. I, p. 30

"In this world we often make mistakes of judgment. We do not as a rule get out of them sound and whole, but sometimes we do." Chap. V, p. 77

"When a stranger from America steps ashore there, the first thing that strikes him is that the place is eight or nine times as large as he was expecting it to be; and the next thing that strikes him is that it is an English city with American trimmings." Chap. XL, p. 125

"It does not read like history, but like the most beautiful lies. And all of a...