Two people, when they love each other, grow alike in their tastes and habits and pride, but their moral natures ... are never welded. The base one goes on being base, and the noble one noble, to the end.

No fear can stand up to hunger, no patience can wear it out, disgust simply does not exist where hunger is; and as to superstition, beliefs, and what you may call principles, they are less than chaff in a breeze.

To make a contented slave, it is necessary to make a thoughtless one. It is necessary to darken his moral and mental vision, and, as far as possible, to annihilate the power of reason.

Definition: (noun) A lack of politeness; a failure to show regard for others; wounding the feelings or others. Synonyms: offense. Usage: Over-much civility is sometimes no better than over-much discourtesy, for, as the saying is, one can choke a guest with curds.

Definition: (adjective) Beyond calculation or measure. Synonyms: incomputable, immeasurable. Usage: Human life is of inestimable value.

Definition: (noun) A horse trained for battle; a cavalry horse. Synonyms: courser. Usage: The knight mounted his charger and rode to meet his countrymen at the front lines.

Originally of the minor Gascon nobility, Cadillac came to America in 1683 to seek his fortune. He became a favorite of the governor of New France, was placed in charge of a frontier post at Mackinac, and eventually proposed the creation of a new fort with a better strategic position against the English. With a band of colonists, he founded in 1701 what would become the city of Detroit. Ten years later, he was appointed governor of what vast French territory?

A popular English criminal who served as the basis for the character Macheath in John Gay's The Beggar's Opera, Sheppard was arrested and imprisoned five times in 1724 alone. The first four times, he escaped. The fifth time, he was executed. Because his crimes were all non-violent, he was well liked, especially by the lower classes, and he became a fixture in the folklore of the era. His execution resembled a party, with the 22-year-old stopping to do what on his way to the gallows?

Possibly the most famous con man in history, Ponzi is now synonymous with a particular type of ruinous investment scheme. By promising impossibly high returns on a "get rich quick" scheme, Ponzi attracted enough new investors to use their money to pay off old investors, which made his outfit appear successful and solvent. It was not. After a series of trials, he was deported from the US, but in at least one case in 1922, he was found not guilty. Who was his lawyer at that trial?

Cremation is a widespread practice that dates to at least 26,000 years ago and is, for many, related to a belief in fire's purifying nature. The practice fell out of favor among Christians until the late 19th c, when people began to recognize the health risk posed by overcrowded cemeteries in large urban centers. Though a log pyre was initially used in cremation, modern methods expose the corpse not to flames but to intense heat that reduces the body to ashes. Which religions prohibit cremation?

One of the rarest species in the world, the Devils Hole pupfish is native to a single, unlikely habitat: Devils Hole, a geothermal, aquifer-fed pool within a limestone cavern in Nevada's Amargosa Desert. Due to its precarious existence, the 22,000-year-old species has been the subject of considerable attention. Scientists closely monitor the population, which fluctuates throughout the year and has, at times, dipped as low as 40. Why have some pupfish been removed from Devils Hole?

As state treasurer of Kentucky, James "Honest Dick" Tate had a spotless reputation that earned him reelection every two years for two decades. The true irony of Tate's nickname was only revealed in 1888—34 years after he first entered public office—when he absconded with funds from the state treasury. It is estimated that between his shoddy bookkeeping, embezzlement, and outright theft, Tate misappropriated nearly $250,000. He was later impeached and indicted. Was "Honest Dick" ever captured?