Seven for a Secret

Being brave and being alone aren't the same thing.

In retrospect, I am very nearly as sharp as I pretend to be.

Look at it,' he said, gesturing. 'This window looks down upon hundreds more panes of glass, and behind those panes live thousands upon thousands of lost souls. When I feel cast down and helpless, scores of other men do as well, and when I am bitterly angry at feeling cast down and helpless, countless other people languish in concert with me. When I'm happy, it's the same. It's a bit like...I used to play chamber music. It's like a vast orchestra. And so I shan't ever be alone.

Children are remarkable creatures, hurtling through savage landscapes of sudden laughter and sharp heartbreaks.

Tim, press your teeth together and keep them that way,' he growled.

The things my brother and I don't say could pave over the Atlantic Ocean.

I don't think I can do this anymore," I told my landlady... "Can anyone else, then?" she asked, voice rough. "I don't think so," I acknowledged. "And the this you mean - must this be done?" "Yes." "Then you will keep going."... "Keeping going is terrible." "It is, she agreed. "That is why I admire you, Mr. Wilde. It is much easier to stop.

Unlooked-for kindness can cut deep as cruelties if they come at the wrong time.

the language spoken by New Yorkers was changing almost daily. Phrases culled from British thieves’ cant intermingled with German, Dutch, Yiddish, and other immigrant languages to form “flash,” a

The evil we complain of is increasing. Europe is flooding the country with emigrants—Great Britain has appropriated twenty-five million to deport to this country one million of Irish paupers, to compete with and destroy American labor. —MR. LEVIN OF THE NATIVE AMERICAN PARTY, AS REPORTED IN THE NEW YORK HERALD, 1846

Grace had called Ellen a dry little prune who’d be lucky to give it away for free disguised as a hat, let alone sell it or marry it off.