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=F B=G C=A D=K E=M F=J G=W H=O I=Z J=B K=E L=P M=Q N=S O=L P=X Q=V R=T S=N T=H U=D V=Y W=R X=I Y=U Z=C
“It is natural that these things should be done by such persons, it is a matter of necessity; and if a man will not have it so, he will not allow the fig-tree to have juice.”— Marcus Aurelius, 1862, Meditations (George Long translation, 1862)Cipher key: A=H B=C C=Z D=E E=F F=A G=P H=M I=W J=D K=N L=U M=B N=I O=J P=K Q=X R=Q S=L T=G U=V V=S W=Y X=T Y=O Z=R
“The safety of life is this, to examine everything all through, what it is itself, that is its material, what the formal part; with all thy soul to do justice and to say the truth.”— Marcus Aurelius, 1862, Meditations (George Long translation, 1862)Cipher key: A=Z B=P C=V D=T E=S F=B G=N H=A I=H J=W K=Q L=Y M=X N=I O=F P=C Q=E R=U S=O T=L U=R V=D W=J X=G Y=K Z=M
“You think they are crusaders sent from some infernal clime, To pluck the eyes of sentiment and dock the tail of Rhyme, To crack the voice of Melody and break the legs of Time.”— Oliver Wendell Holmes, 1836, Poems (1836), The Music-Grinders (in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed., 1891)Cipher key: A=Z B=X C=U D=K E=R F=E G=H H=Y I=B J=N K=M L=I M=O N=C O=P P=L Q=V R=D S=A T=G U=J V=S W=F X=Q Y=T Z=W
“The happiness and unhappiness of the rational, social animal depends not on what he feels but on what he does; just as his virtue and vice consist not in feeling but in doing.”— Marcus Aurelius, 170, Meditations, IX. 16 (in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed., 1891)Cipher key: A=E B=D C=K D=I E=T F=H G=O H=W I=A J=P K=U L=J M=S N=C O=N P=L Q=G R=F S=Z T=V U=B V=Y W=Q X=M Y=R Z=X