“were under the very erroneous impression that we had money. Of”

“Seemed like no matter how much money people had, they were desperate to have more, desperate to look good compared to everyone else. Why bother to impress when all anyone else cared about was how impressive THEY were?”

“Under the California desert and subsidized by the taxpayers' money, someone had finally invented a chain letter that really worked. A very lethal chain letter.”

“For it is humanly certain that most of us remember very little of what we have read. To open almost any book a second time is to be reminded that we had forgotten well-nigh everything that the writer told us. Parting from the narrator and his narrative, we retain only a fading impression; and he, as it were, takes the book away from us and tucks it under his arm.”

“We too often forget that not only is there 'a soul of goodness in things evil,' but very generally also, a soul of truth in things erroneous.”

“We buy things we don't need with money we don't have to impress people we don't like.”