Few people have the imagination for reality. - Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

The intelligent man finds everything laughable, the sensible man hardly anything.

Much there is I can stand, and most things not easy to suffer I bear with quiet resolve, just as a god commands it. Only a few I find as repugnant as snakes and poison — These four: tobacco smoke, bedbugs, garlic, and †.

Every reader, if he has a strong mind, reads himself into the book, and amalgamates his thoughts with those of the author.