5 cryptograms to solve with a pencil. Each letter of the quote has been swapped for another letter, and the same swap holds all the way through.
20 pt ciphertext — the size a newspaper puzzle page never gives you. 26 pt ciphertext with wide letter spacing and room to write. Both sizes print on US Letter with the answer key on its own page.
Printing this web page instead? Press Ctrl+P (⌘+P on a Mac). The navigation and buttons drop away, and the answer key prints on its own page — open it below first if you want it included.
Decoder — write your answer under each cipher letter:
A
B
C
D
E
F
G
H
I
J
K
L
M
N
O
P
Q
R
S
T
U
V
W
X
Y
Z
Solver's cheat sheet
Most common letters
E T A O I N S H R D L U
Most common 1-letter words
A I
Most common 2-letter words
OF TO IN IT IS BE AS AT SO WE HE BY OR ON DO IF ME MY UP AN GO NO US AM
Most common 3-letter words
THE AND FOR ARE BUT NOT YOU ALL ANY CAN HER WAS ONE OUR OUT DAY GET HAS HIM HIS HOW MAN NEW NOW OLD SEE TWO WAY WHO BOY DID ITS LET PUT SAY SHE TOO USE
Common double letters
LL EE SS OO TT FF RR NN PP CC
Common word endings
-ING -ION -ENT -TION -LY -ED -ER -EST
After an apostrophe
T (don't) S (it's) RE (we're) VE (I've) LL (we'll) D (I'd)
“As the wisdom, strength, and beneficence of our free institutions are unfolded, every day adds fresh motives to contentment and fresh incentives to patriotism.”— James K. Polk, 1846, Second Annual Message to CongressCipher key: A=G B=P C=T D=E E=I F=X G=D H=L I=H J=K K=Q L=Y M=V N=B O=W P=F Q=Z R=O S=N T=A U=S V=J W=U X=M Y=C Z=R
“All things are the same, - familiar in enterprise, momentary in endurance, coarse in substance. All things now are as they were in the day of those whom we have buried.”— Marcus Aurelius, 170, Meditations, IX. 14 (in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed., 1891)Cipher key: A=D B=W C=Q D=S E=I F=V G=E H=M I=G J=O K=U L=N M=Z N=X O=R P=J Q=F R=Y S=A T=L U=H V=T W=P X=B Y=C Z=K
“The perfection of moral character consists in this, in passing every day as the last, and in being neither violently excited nor torpid nor playing the hypocrite.”— Marcus Aurelius, 1862, Meditations (George Long translation, 1862)Cipher key: A=Y B=H C=W D=M E=Q F=Z G=E H=D I=U J=O K=B L=A M=R N=X O=T P=V Q=G R=S S=N T=F U=L V=I W=C X=K Y=J Z=P
“Time travels in divers paces with divers persons. I'll tell you who Time ambles withal, who Time trots withal, who Time gallops withal, and who he stands still withal.”— William Shakespeare, 1600, As You Like It, Act III. Sc. 2 (in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed., 1891)Cipher key: A=I B=R C=G D=K E=N F=B G=Z H=A I=Q J=X K=T L=O M=Y N=D O=S P=U Q=J R=L S=P T=F U=W V=C W=H X=E Y=M Z=V
“We make to ourselves day by day, out of history, and gossip, and economical speculations, and God knows what, a medium in which we walk and through which we look abroad.”— Robert Louis Stevenson, 1881, Virginibus Puerisque and Other PapersCipher key: A=S B=K C=Q D=G E=X F=N G=I H=V I=C J=R K=W L=J M=Z N=L O=U P=B Q=H R=F S=M T=A U=D V=Y W=T X=O Y=E Z=P