Following the Equator (1897)

I'll risk forty dollars that he can outjump any frog in Calaveras county.

I don't see no p'ints about that frog that's any better'n any other frog.

I haven't a particle of confidence in a man who has no redeeming petty vices.

The 'Laforgue edition' (1826-1838), heavily rewritten and censored:

E o abade pancudo que a tardinha, a varanda, palita o dente furado saboreando o seu cafe com um ar paterno, traz dentro em si os indistintos restos dum Torquem…

At present, I am a poet trying to be a soldier. To tell the truth, I am not interested in writing nowadays, except in so far as writing is the expression of so…