“’Tis wondrous to me how I was raised above the Mire and Cruditie of Nature, by my fortuitous Introduction to the English Tongue.”
”I could never abide Chickens, Sir. Their Imbecility depresses my Spirits most grievously.”
“If I am now to be barr’d from propagating my Kind, I must then resolve to propagate my Reputation. I shall write, Sir — I shall write for the Ages — and thus shall I secure the Immortality that has been deny’d to my Race.”
“My Friends assure me that I have learnt to be more English than the Majority of Englishmen.”
“Whatever Genius I may once have possess’d, has wither’d from the Exercise of my mental Powers upon dull and transient Subjects.”
“I want no distant Shore to fly away to, no sunny southern Clime; for I am most Content to reside in this happy Bower, this Nest of Genius and Conviviality, that all of us call London!”
“A Pidgeon is but a lesser Fowle, of small Comprehension, one destin’d to live and dye upon the Streets and Fields and leave no Legacy other than the begetting of more Pidgeons. I should not worry thyself excessively about their Fate as Pye-stuffing, as long as they’re properly cook’d.”
“If the Gods themselves had design’d for my Happinesse a comparable female Specimen of mine own Race, they could not have succeeded in surpassing the Charms of my English Mistresse.”
“Eheu! I doubt I shall ever understand the Motives of your female Sex.”
“All worldly Enjoyment, like Life itself, is finite in Duration. Whether for twenty Weeks or twenty Years, it must inevitably reach an End, like a favourite Book that we must close after having attain’d the final Page. We return it to the Shelf with a tinge of Regret, yet we do not mourn its Loss; instead, we hold it deeply in our Hearts and feel a Swelling of Gratitude for having savour’d its Magick.”
“The prosperous Merchant and even the landed Aristocrat cannot conceive of those merry Flights of Wit and Learning, which we poor Scribes have enjoy’d almost daily. That is our Victory, Gentlemen… whether we achieve worldly Acclaim or perpetual Obscurity. We have lived the Life of the Minde… connected forever with our Fellow-spirits from the Past and with our kindred Souls in the Present-day.”
The Life of Jeremy Dodo 