During the former part of my sufferings (that is, generally in Wales, - Thomas de Quincey

how easily a man who has never been in any great distress, may pass through life without knowing, in his own person at least, anything of the possible goodness of the human heart - or, as I must add with a sigh, of its possible vileness. So a thick curtain of manners is drawn over the features and expression of men's natures, that to the ordinary observer, the two extremities, and the infinite field of varieties which lie between them, are all confounded - the vast and multitudinous line of differences expressed in the gamut or alphabet of elementary sounds.

People begin to see that something more goes to the composition of a fine murder than two blockheads to kill and be killed - a knife - a purse - and a dark lane...

Γενικά, τα σπάνια άτομα που μου προκάλεσαν αηδία στόν κόσμο αυτό, ύπηρξαν άτομα ανθηρά κοινωνικώς και με καλή φήμη,όσο για τούς μασκαράδες που γνώρισα, και δεν είναι λίγοι, τούς σκέφτομαι όλους χωρίς εξαίρεση μ' ευχαρίστηση και καλοσύνη.