It thrilled me to realize what sudden greatness had fallen on me; and at the same time it sobered me, as with a sense of responsibility.

I strove to conduct myself as befitted a Fellow Citizen.
Before books came into my life, I was given to stargazing and daydreaming.

When books were given me, I fell upon them as a glutton pounces on his meat after a period of enforced starvation.

I lived with my nose in a book, and took no notice of the alternations of the sun and stars.

But now, after the advent of George Washington and the American Revolution, I began to dream again.