“When his highness sends a ship to Egypt, does he trouble his head whether the mice on board are at their ease or not?”

“He who is silent and bows his head dies every time he does so. He who speaks aloud and walks with his head held high dies only once.”

“It is the interest of every man to live as much at his ease as he can; and if his emoluments are to be precisely the same, whether he does or does not perform some very laborious duty, it is certainly his interest, at least as interest is vulgarly understood, either to neglect it altogether, or, if he is subject to some authority which will not suffer him to do this, to perform it in as careless and slovenly a manner as that authority will permit.”

“As his older sister, it was my job to lie to him in the name of easing his troubled mind.”

“I lift the board high above my head and ... bring the metal down on the driver's exposed neck. There it sticks, stuck in his throat, like an awkward question.”

“A castaway in the sea was going down for the third time when he caught sight of a passing ship. Gathering his last strength, he waved frantically and called for help. Someone on board peered at him scornfully and shouted back, "Get a boat!”