The Art of Tetman Callis

“Death takes no bribes.” – Benjamin Franklin, Poor Richard, 1742

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“Wish not so much to live long as to live well.” – Benjamin Franklin, Poor Richard, 1738

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“Keep your eyes wide open before marriage, half shut afterwards.” – Benjamin Franklin, Poor Richard, 1738

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“Let thy vices die before thee.” – Benjamin Franklin, Poor Richard, 1738

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“If you wou’d not be forgotten As soon as you are dead and rotten, Either write things worth reading, or do things worth the writing.” – Benjamin Franklin, Poor Richard, 1738

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“Who has deceiv’d thee so oft as thyself?” – Benjamin Franklin, Poor Richard, 1738

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“There are three faithful friends, an old wife, an old dog, and ready money.” – Benjamin Franklin, Poor Richard, 1738

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“The noblest question in the world is What Good may I do in it?” – Benjamin Franklin, Poor Richard, 1737 (emphasis in original)

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“The greatest monarch on the proudest throne, is oblig’d to sit upon his own arse.” – Benjamin Franklin, Poor Richard, 1737

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“He that would live in peace & at ease, Must not speak all he knows, nor judge all he sees.” – Benjamin Franklin, Poor Richard, 1736

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“Three may keep a secret, if two of them are dead.” – Benjamin Franklin, Poor Richard, 1735

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“There is no little enemy.” – Benjamin Franklin, Poor Richard, 1733

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“Men & Melons are hard to know.” – Benjamin Franklin, Poor Richard, 1733

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“Distrust & caution are the parents of security.” – Benjamin Franklin, Poor Richard, 1733

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“To lengthen thy Life, lessen thy Meals.” – Benjamin Franklin, Poor Richard, 1733

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“The poor have little, beggars none, the rich too much, enough not one.” – Benjamin Franklin, Poor Richard, 1733 (emphasis in original)

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“Few reverses in this changeful world are more complete and disheartening than that of a traveller, suddenly unhorsed, in the middle of the wilderness.” – Washington Irving, Astoria

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“Outrages are frequently committed on the natives by thoughtless or mischievous white men: the Indians retaliate according to a law of their code, which requires blood for blood; their act of what with them is pious vengeance resounds throughout the land and is represented as wanton and unprovoked; the neighborhood is roused to arms; a […]

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“It’s strange how easily one falls into it. You have fully decided never to marry; and then, in the springtime, you go to the country; the weather is warm; the summer is beautiful; the fields are full of flowers; you meet a young girl at some friend’s house—crash! all is over. You return married!” – […]

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“A well-thought-out story doesn’t need to resemble real life. Life itself tries with all its might to resemble a well-crafted story.” – Isaac Babel, “My First Fee” (trans. Peter Constantine)

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“The daily routine had ceased to be a novelty. All the details of the journey and the camp had become familiar to us. We had seen life under a new aspect; the human biped had been reduced to his primitive condition. We had lived without law to protect, a roof to shelter, or garment of […]

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“The western Dahcotah have no fixed habitations. Hunting and fighting, they wander incessantly, through summer and winter. Some are following the herds of buffalo over the wastes of prairie; others are traversing the Black Hills, thronging, on horseback and on foot, through the dark gulfs and sombre gorges, beneath the vast splintering precipices, and emerging […]

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“The emigrants felt a violent prejudice against the French Indians, as they called the trappers and traders. They thought, and with some justice, that these men bore them no good will. Many of them were firmly persuaded that the French were instigating the Indians to attack and cut them off. On visiting the encampment we […]

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“There is a spirit of energy and vigor in mountains, and they impart it to all who approach their presence.” – Francis Parkman, The Oregon Trail

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“There must be a simple form of love, the result of the mutual impulse of two hearts and two souls. But there is also assuredly an atrocious form, that tortures one cruelly, the result of the occult blending of two unlike personalities who detest each other at the same time that they adore one another.” […]

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“[Translation] work isn’t as bad as it might seem. When a phrase is born, it is both good and bad at the same time. The secret of its success rests in a crux that is barely discernible. One’s fingertips must grasp the key, gently warming it. And then the key must be turned once, not […]

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“She will not forget, she will come to you,Caress, embrace, and love you for all eternity.But a bridal wreath of thorns shall crown her head.”— Alexander Tichonovich Grechaninov, “Death”

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“It is only by going a long distance from home that we can fully understand how short-lived and empty everything near at hand is; by searching for the unknown, we perceive how commonplace and evanescent everything is; only by wandering over the face of the earth can we understand how small the world is, and […]

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