Bret Harte — American Author born on August 25, 1836, died on May 06, 1902

Francis Bret Harte was an American author and poet, best remembered for his short fiction featuring miners, gamblers, and other romantic figures of the California Gold Rush. In a career spanning more than four decades, he wrote poetry, fiction, plays, lectures, book reviews, editorials, and magazine sketches in addition to fiction. As he moved from California to the eastern U.S. to Europe, he incorporated new subjects and characters into his stories, but his Gold Rush tales have been most often reprinted, adapted, and admired... (wikipedia)

Never a lip is curved with pain that can't be kissed into smiles again.
The only sure thing about luck is that it will change.
We begin to die as soon as we are born, and the end is linked to the beginning.
Never a tear bedims the eye that time and patience will not dry.
A bird in hand is a certainty. But a bird in the bush may sing.