"It is better to fail in originality than to succeed in imitation."

"I know not all that may be coming, but be it what it will, I'll go to it laughing."

"A smile is the chosen vehicle of all ambiguities."

"I do not think I have any uncharitable prejudice against the rattlesnake, still, I should not like to be one."

"Better to sleep with a sober cannibal than a drunk Christian."

"It is not down on any map; true places never are."

"Of all the preposterous assumptions of humanity over humanity, nothing exceeds most of the criticisms made on the habits of the poor by the well-housed, well- warmed, and well-fed."

"As for me, I am tormented with an everlasting itch for things remote. I love to sail forbidden seas, and land on barbarous coasts."

"I try all things, I achieve what I can."