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What's in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.

William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet, Act 2, Scene 2.

CodeACFHJKMOPRSTUVWXZ
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All 163 quotes

Proverbs 28

  • A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush. Traditional English proverb. Keep the sure thing you hold over the bigger thing you might not catch.
  • A chain is only as strong as its weakest link. Traditional English proverb. One weak part can fail the whole team or machine.
  • A friend in need is a friend indeed. Traditional English proverb. The friend who helps when you are in trouble is a true one.
  • A rolling stone gathers no moss. Traditional English proverb. Someone who never settles in one place never puts down roots.
  • A stitch in time saves nine. Traditional English proverb. Mend a small tear now and you will not have to sew nine stitches later.
  • Actions speak louder than words. Traditional English proverb. What people do tells you more than what they promise.
  • Better late than never. Traditional English proverb. Doing a thing late still beats not doing it at all.
  • The early bird catches the worm. Traditional English proverb. Whoever starts first gets the best chance.
  • Every cloud has a silver lining. Traditional English proverb. Something good can be found in most bad days.
Show all 163 quotes (154 more)

Proverbs, continued

  • Good things come to those who wait. Traditional English proverb. Patience is often rewarded.
  • The grass is always greener on the other side. Traditional English proverb. What other people have often looks better than what you have.
  • Honesty is the best policy. Traditional English proverb. Telling the truth serves you better in the end than a lie.
  • Let sleeping dogs lie. Traditional English proverb. Leave an old quarrel alone if stirring it up would only cause trouble.
  • Make hay while the sun shines. Traditional English proverb. Use a good chance while it lasts. Hay must be cut and dried in fine weather.
  • Many hands make light work. Traditional English proverb. A big job feels small when everyone takes a share of it.
  • Mighty oaks from little acorns grow. Traditional English proverb. Great things start out small.
  • Once bitten, twice shy. Traditional English proverb. After one bad experience you are more careful the next time.
  • One swallow does not make a summer. Traditional English proverb. One good sign is not proof that things have changed.
  • Practice makes perfect. Traditional English proverb. Skill comes from doing a thing again and again.
  • The proof of the pudding is in the eating. Traditional English proverb. You judge a thing by trying it, not by how it looks.
  • Rome wasn't built in a day. Traditional English proverb. Great work takes a long time, so be patient with it.
  • Still waters run deep. Traditional English proverb. A quiet person may be thinking a great deal.
  • Strike while the iron is hot. Traditional English proverb. Act at the right moment. A blacksmith can only shape iron while it glows.
  • Too many cooks spoil the broth. Traditional English proverb. A job goes wrong when too many people try to run it.
  • Two heads are better than one. Traditional English proverb. A partner may spot the answer you missed.
  • Waste not, want not. Traditional English proverb. Use things up carefully and you will not run short later.
  • Well begun is half done. Traditional English proverb. A careful start makes the rest of the job easier.
  • When in Rome, do as the Romans do. Traditional English proverb. Follow the customs of the place you are visiting.

Poor Richard's sayings 18

  • A small leak will sink a great ship. Benjamin Franklin, The Way to Wealth (1758). A warning about small expenses that add up.
  • The cat in gloves catches no mice. Benjamin Franklin, The Way to Wealth (1758). You cannot do real work while trying to keep your hands clean.
  • Constant dropping wears away stones. Benjamin Franklin, The Way to Wealth (1758). Drip by drip, water wears a hollow in rock.
  • Diligence is the mother of good luck. Benjamin Franklin, The Way to Wealth (1758). Diligence means steady, careful work.
  • Early to bed, and early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise. Benjamin Franklin, The Way to Wealth (1758). Perhaps the best known line from Poor Richard's almanac.
  • Experience keeps a dear school, but fools will learn in no other. Benjamin Franklin, The Way to Wealth (1758). Dear means costly: learning only from your own mistakes is expensive.
  • For want of a nail the shoe was lost; for want of a shoe the horse was lost; and for want of a horse the rider was lost. Benjamin Franklin, The Way to Wealth (1758). A chain of small losses: the shoe is a horseshoe.
  • It is hard for an empty bag to stand upright. Benjamin Franklin, The Way to Wealth (1758). Franklin's picture of how hard it is to stay honest when you are poor.
  • Little strokes fell great oaks. Benjamin Franklin, The Way to Wealth (1758). Small, steady efforts finish a huge job. To fell a tree is to cut it down.
  • Lost time is never found again. Benjamin Franklin, The Way to Wealth (1758). An hour wasted cannot be bought back.
  • Never leave that till to-morrow, which you can do to-day. Benjamin Franklin, The Way to Wealth (1758). Advice against putting things off.
  • One to-day is worth two to-morrows. Benjamin Franklin, The Way to Wealth (1758). Franklin wrote today and tomorrow with a hyphen, as was usual in his time.
  • Plow deep, while sluggards sleep, and you shall have corn to sell and to keep. Benjamin Franklin, The Way to Wealth (1758). A sluggard is a lazy person.
  • The sleeping fox catches no poultry. Benjamin Franklin, The Way to Wealth (1758). Poultry means chickens, ducks and geese.
  • There are no gains without pains. Benjamin Franklin, The Way to Wealth (1758). The idea behind the modern saying no pain, no gain.
  • The used key is always bright. Benjamin Franklin, The Way to Wealth (1758). A key in daily use never rusts, and neither does a busy mind.
  • Want of care does us more damage than want of knowledge. Benjamin Franklin, The Way to Wealth (1758). Want of here means lack of.
  • When the well is dry, they know the worth of water. Benjamin Franklin, The Way to Wealth (1758). We value a thing most when it has run out.

Morals from Aesop's fables 15

  • Acquaintance softens prejudices. Aesop's Fables, the moral of The Fox and the Lion, in the 1867 English translation by George Fyler Townsend.
  • Birds of a feather flock together. Aesop's Fables, the moral of The Farmer and the Stork, in the 1867 English translation by George Fyler Townsend.
  • Counsel without help is useless. Aesop's Fables, the moral of The Boy Bathing, in the 1867 English translation by George Fyler Townsend.
  • Do not attempt too much at once. Aesop's Fables, the moral of The Boy and the Filberts, in the 1867 English translation by George Fyler Townsend.
  • Equals make the best friends. Aesop's Fables, the moral of The Two Pots, in the 1867 English translation by George Fyler Townsend.
  • Example is more powerful than precept. Aesop's Fables, the moral of The Crab and Its Mother, in the 1867 English translation by George Fyler Townsend.
  • Fine feathers don't make fine birds. Aesop's Fables, the moral of The Peacock and the Crane, in the 1867 English translation by George Fyler Townsend.
  • He is wise who is warned by the misfortunes of others. Aesop's Fables, the moral of The Sick Lion, in the 1867 English translation by George Fyler Townsend.
  • Look before you leap. Aesop's Fables, the moral of The Fox and the Goat, in the 1867 English translation by George Fyler Townsend.
  • Necessity is the mother of invention. Aesop's Fables, the moral of The Crow and the Pitcher, in the 1867 English translation by George Fyler Townsend.
  • Persuasion is better than Force. Aesop's Fables, the moral of The North Wind and the Sun, in the 1867 English translation by George Fyler Townsend.
  • Self-help is the best help. Aesop's Fables, the moral of Hercules and the Wagoner, in the 1867 English translation by George Fyler Townsend.
  • Slow but steady wins the race. Aesop's Fables, the moral of The Hare and the Tortoise, in the 1867 English translation by George Fyler Townsend.
  • There is no believing a liar, even when he speaks the truth. Aesop's Fables, the moral of The Shepherd's Boy and the Wolf, in the 1867 English translation by George Fyler Townsend.
  • Whatever you do, do with all your might. Aesop's Fables, the moral of The Boy and the Nettles, in the 1867 English translation by George Fyler Townsend.

Shakespeare 18

  • All that glisters is not gold. William Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice, Act 2, Scene 7. Glisters is an old word for glitters.
  • All the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players. William Shakespeare, As You Like It, Act 2, Scene 7. The opening of the Seven Ages of Man speech.
  • And though she be but little, she is fierce. William Shakespeare, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Act 3, Scene 2.
  • Better three hours too soon than a minute too late. William Shakespeare, The Merry Wives of Windsor, Act 2, Scene 2.
  • Brevity is the soul of wit. William Shakespeare, Hamlet, Act 2, Scene 2. Spoken by a character who never stops talking.
  • The course of true love never did run smooth. William Shakespeare, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Act 1, Scene 1.
  • Cowards die many times before their deaths. William Shakespeare, Julius Caesar, Act 2, Scene 2.
  • Double, double, toil and trouble; fire, burn; and cauldron, bubble. William Shakespeare, Macbeth, Act 4, Scene 1. The witches' chant. The doubled letters make this one quick to crack.
  • How far that little candle throws his beams! So shines a good deed in a naughty world. William Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice, Act 5, Scene 1.
  • If music be the food of love, play on. William Shakespeare, Twelfth Night, Act 1, Scene 1. The first line of the play.
  • Lord, what fools these mortals be! William Shakespeare, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Act 3, Scene 2. A mortal is a human being.
  • Our doubts are traitors, and make us lose the good we oft might win, by fearing to attempt. William Shakespeare, Measure for Measure, Act 1, Scene 4. Oft means often.
  • The quality of mercy is not strain'd, it droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven. William Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice, Act 4, Scene 1. Strain'd means forced.
  • Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon 'em. William Shakespeare, Twelfth Night, Act 2, Scene 5. Read aloud from a letter that turns out to be a trick.
  • There is nothing either good or bad but thinking makes it so. William Shakespeare, Hamlet, Act 2, Scene 2.
  • This above all: to thine own self be true. William Shakespeare, Hamlet, Act 1, Scene 3. A father's advice to his son. Thine means your.
  • We are such stuff as dreams are made on. William Shakespeare, The Tempest, Act 4, Scene 1.
  • What's in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet. William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet, Act 2, Scene 2.

Poems and rhymes 31

  • A little learning is a dangerous thing. Alexander Pope, An Essay on Criticism (1711). Often misquoted as a little knowledge.
  • A thing of beauty is a joy for ever. John Keats, the first line of Endymion (1818).
  • A word is dead when it is said, some say. I say it just begins to live that day. Emily Dickinson, A word is dead, first printed in 1896. This is the whole poem, all 19 words of it.
  • All that we see or seem is but a dream within a dream. Edgar Allan Poe, A Dream Within a Dream (1849).
  • The Child is Father of the Man. William Wordsworth, My heart leaps up, in Poems, in Two Volumes (1807).
  • For fools rush in where angels fear to tread. Alexander Pope, An Essay on Criticism (1711).
  • Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free. Emma Lazarus, The New Colossus (1883), the sonnet engraved on a bronze plaque at the Statue of Liberty.
  • Hope is the thing with feathers that perches in the soul. Emily Dickinson, the poem known by its first line, Hope is the thing with feathers. Published in 1891, after her death.
  • Hope springs eternal in the human breast. Alexander Pope, An Essay on Man (1733).
  • How do you like to go up in a swing, up in the air so blue? Robert Louis Stevenson, The Swing, in A Child's Garden of Verses (1885).
  • I am a part of all that I have met. Alfred Tennyson, Ulysses (1842).
  • I celebrate myself, and sing myself. Walt Whitman, the first line of Song of Myself, in Leaves of Grass.
  • I have a little shadow that goes in and out with me. Robert Louis Stevenson, My Shadow, in A Child's Garden of Verses (1885).
  • I hear America singing, the varied carols I hear. Walt Whitman, I Hear America Singing, in Leaves of Grass.
  • I shot an arrow into the air, it fell to earth, I knew not where. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, The Arrow and the Song.
  • I wandered lonely as a cloud that floats on high o'er vales and hills. William Wordsworth, the daffodils poem, in Poems, in Two Volumes (1807). O'er is short for over.
  • I'm nobody! Who are you? Are you nobody, too? Emily Dickinson, I'm nobody! Who are you? Published in 1891, after her death.
  • If I can stop one heart from breaking, I shall not live in vain. Emily Dickinson, If I can stop one heart from breaking, first printed in 1890. In vain means for nothing.
  • In winter I get up at night and dress by yellow candle-light. Robert Louis Stevenson, Bed in Summer, in A Child's Garden of Verses (1885).
  • Into each life some rain must fall. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, The Rainy Day.
  • Listen, my children, and you shall hear of the midnight ride of Paul Revere. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Paul Revere's Ride. The ride took place in April 1775.
  • Lives of great men all remind us we can make our lives sublime. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, A Psalm of Life. Sublime means grand and noble.
  • Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary. Edgar Allan Poe, the first line of The Raven (1845). Dreary means gloomy.
  • The pedigree of honey does not concern the bee. Emily Dickinson, The pedigree of honey, first printed in 1890. A pedigree is a family history.
  • There is no frigate like a book to take us lands away. Emily Dickinson, There is no frigate like a book, first printed in 1896. A frigate is a fast sailing ship.
  • Tiger, tiger, burning bright in the forests of the night. William Blake, The Tiger, in Songs of Experience (1794). Blake himself spelled it Tyger.
  • To err is human, to forgive, divine. Alexander Pope, An Essay on Criticism (1711). To err is to make a mistake.
  • To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield. Alfred Tennyson, the last line of Ulysses (1842).
  • Twinkle, twinkle, little star, how I wonder what you are! Up above the world so high, like a diamond in the sky. Jane Taylor, The Star, in Rhymes for the Nursery (1806). The rhyme began as a five-verse poem.
  • Under a spreading chestnut-tree the village smithy stands. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, The Village Blacksmith. A smithy is a blacksmith's workshop.
  • The world is so full of a number of things, I'm sure we should all be as happy as kings. Robert Louis Stevenson, Happy Thought, in A Child's Garden of Verses (1885). This is the entire poem.

Nonsense and word play 8

  • And hand in hand, on the edge of the sand, they danced by the light of the moon. Edward Lear, the ending of The Owl and the Pussy-Cat (1871).
  • Curiouser and curiouser! Lewis Carroll, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (1865). Only 8 different letters, so give no letters away.
  • The Owl and the Pussy-Cat went to sea in a beautiful pea-green boat. Edward Lear, The Owl and the Pussy-Cat, in Nonsense Songs (1871).
  • The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog. A traditional pangram: it uses all 26 letters, so the finished puzzle gives you the whole code. In print since at least 1885.
  • The rule is, jam to-morrow and jam yesterday, but never jam to-day. Lewis Carroll, Through the Looking-Glass (1871).
  • They dined on mince and slices of quince, which they ate with a runcible spoon. Edward Lear, The Owl and the Pussy-Cat (1871). Lear made up the word runcible.
  • The time has come, the Walrus said, to talk of many things. Lewis Carroll, The Walrus and the Carpenter, in Through the Looking-Glass (1871).
  • 'Twas brillig, and the slithy toves did gyre and gimble in the wabe. Lewis Carroll, Jabberwocky, in Through the Looking-Glass (1871). Invented words make this the hardest puzzle in the list.

Lines from classic stories 16

  • And what is the use of a book without pictures or conversations? Lewis Carroll, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (1865), from the first paragraph.
  • Begin at the beginning, and go on till you come to the end: then stop. Lewis Carroll, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (1865). Advice on how to read out a piece of evidence.
  • Do your best wherever it is, and keep up your good name. Anna Sewell, Black Beauty (1877). A mother's advice to her colt.
  • I am no bird; and no net ensnares me; I am a free human being with an independent will. Charlotte Bronte, Jane Eyre (1847). Ensnares means traps.
  • I declare after all there is no enjoyment like reading! Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice (1813). Said by a character who is yawning over her book.
  • I'd rather take coffee than compliments just now. Louisa May Alcott, Little Women (1868 to 1869).
  • I'm not afraid of storms, for I'm learning how to sail my ship. Louisa May Alcott, Little Women (1868 to 1869).
  • It is not down in any map; true places never are. Herman Melville, Moby-Dick (1851).
  • It takes all the running you can do, to keep in the same place. Lewis Carroll, Through the Looking-Glass (1871).
  • It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. Charles Dickens, the opening words of A Tale of Two Cities (1859).
  • It's a poor sort of memory that only works backwards. Lewis Carroll, Through the Looking-Glass (1871).
  • There is nothing in the world so irresistibly contagious as laughter and good-humour. Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol (1843). Contagious means catching.
  • We call them dumb animals, and so they are, for they cannot tell us how they feel, but they do not suffer less because they have no words. Anna Sewell, Black Beauty (1877). Dumb here means unable to speak.
  • Where you tend a rose, my lad, a thistle cannot grow. Frances Hodgson Burnett, The Secret Garden (1911).
  • Why, sometimes I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast. Lewis Carroll, Through the Looking-Glass (1871).
  • Work consists of whatever a body is obliged to do, and that Play consists of whatever a body is not obliged to do. Mark Twain, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1876), the lesson of the whitewashed fence.

American history 10

  • Far better it is to dare mighty things. Theodore Roosevelt, The Strenuous Life, a speech given in 1899.
  • Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty. Abraham Lincoln, the Gettysburg Address (1863). A score is 20, so four score and seven is 87 years: back to 1776.
  • Government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth. Abraham Lincoln, the closing words of the Gettysburg Address (1863).
  • Speak softly and carry a big stick; you will go far. Theodore Roosevelt, quoting what he called an old proverb in a 1901 speech, printed in The Strenuous Life.
  • Success is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life as by the obstacles which he has overcome while trying to succeed. Booker T. Washington, Up from Slavery (1901).
  • These are the times that try men's souls. Thomas Paine, the first line of The American Crisis (1776). Try here means test.
  • We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal. Thomas Jefferson and the Continental Congress, the Declaration of Independence (1776).
  • What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly. Thomas Paine, The American Crisis (1776). To esteem is to value.
  • With malice toward none, with charity for all. Abraham Lincoln, Second Inaugural Address (1865). Malice means ill will.
  • You have seen how a man was made a slave; you shall see how a slave was made a man. Frederick Douglass, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass (1845).

Ideas, wit and nature 19

  • A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds. Ralph Waldo Emerson, Self-Reliance, in Essays: First Series (1841).
  • Cauliflower is nothing but cabbage with a college education. Mark Twain, Pudd'nhead Wilson (1894), from the joke calendar that heads each chapter.
  • Every one is a moon, and has a dark side which he never shows to anybody. Mark Twain, Following the Equator (1897).
  • Few things are harder to put up with than the annoyance of a good example. Mark Twain, Pudd'nhead Wilson (1894).
  • From so simple a beginning endless forms most beautiful and most wonderful have been, and are being, evolved. Charles Darwin, the last words of On the Origin of Species (1859).
  • Heaven is under our feet as well as over our heads. Henry David Thoreau, Walden (1854), written while looking down through the ice of the pond.
  • I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately. Henry David Thoreau, Walden (1854). He lived for two years in a cabin beside Walden Pond in Massachusetts.
  • If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Henry David Thoreau, Walden (1854).
  • If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be. Now put the foundations under them. Henry David Thoreau, the conclusion of Walden (1854).
  • Insist on yourself; never imitate. Ralph Waldo Emerson, Self-Reliance, in Essays: First Series (1841).
  • Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm. Ralph Waldo Emerson, Circles, in Essays: First Series (1841).
  • Only that day dawns to which we are awake. Henry David Thoreau, from the last paragraph of Walden (1854).
  • The only way to have a friend is to be one. Ralph Waldo Emerson, Friendship, in Essays: First Series (1841).
  • The reward of a thing well done, is to have done it. Ralph Waldo Emerson, Essays: Second Series (1844).
  • To be great is to be misunderstood. Ralph Waldo Emerson, Self-Reliance, in Essays: First Series (1841).
  • The truth is rarely pure and never simple. Oscar Wilde, The Importance of Being Earnest (1895).
  • Truth is stranger than fiction, but it is because Fiction is obliged to stick to possibilities; Truth isn't. Mark Twain, Following the Equator (1897).
  • We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars. Oscar Wilde, Lady Windermere's Fan (1892).
  • When we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in the universe. John Muir, My First Summer in the Sierra (1911). A naturalist's way of saying that living things depend on one another.

How this list was compiled: Every quote was matched word for word on 2026-09-18 against the full text it comes from. Project Gutenberg plain-text editions (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/N, where N is): 11 and 12 Carroll; 100 Shakespeare, Complete Works; 1342 Austen; 98 and 46 Dickens; 514 Alcott; 74, 102 and 2895 Twain; 205 Thoreau; 2944 and 2945 Emerson; 12242 Dickinson, Poems, Three Series; 25609 Stevenson; 21 Aesop in G. F. Townsend's translation; 271 Sewell; 113 Burnett; 1260 Bronte; 2701 Melville; 2376 B. T. Washington; 844 and 790 Wilde; 43855 Franklin, The Way to Wealth; 7409 and 2428 Pope; 13650 Lear; 1934 Blake; 3741 Paine; 10031 Poe; 1322 Whitman; 23 Douglass; 1228 Darwin; 32540 Muir; 1 Declaration of Independence; 24280 Keats; 8824 Wordsworth; 1365 Longfellow; 58821 T. Roosevelt, The Strenuous Life. Wikisource pages: https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Gettysburg_Address_(Bliss_copy), https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Abraham_Lincoln%27s_Second_Inaugural_Address, https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_New_Colossus, https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Poems_(Tennyson,_1843)/Volume_2/Ulysses, https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Rhymes_for_the_Nursery/The_Star. Proverbs were checked against https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_proverbial_phrases and the pangram against https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_quick_brown_fox_jumps_over_the_lazy_dog on the same date; the one-line meanings are our own. Verse is printed as running text with line-opening capitals lowered. Every named author or translator died before 1929. Letter-frequency and solving facts on the page were checked against https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Letter_frequency and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cryptogram on 2026-09-18. Licence: own work

How it works

This cryptogram maker turns any sentence into a letter-swap code. Every letter is written as another letter, and no letter ever stands for itself. Type your own message of up to 300 characters, or solve one of 163 quotes from proverbs, poems, plays and speeches. Solve it on screen, or print it with a tracker grid and an answer key.

Read the full guide

Make a puzzle from your own words

Type a sentence, a riddle answer or a secret message in the box at the top, and the puzzle follows as you type. The text needs at least 5 letters, 3 of them different, and can run to 300 characters. Letters are swapped. Numbers, spaces and punctuation stay put, and accents are dropped. A message of 60 to 120 letters repeats its common letters often enough to give solvers a way in. A five-word message is far harder, so give more letters away. Every press makes a new random code, so one message can be printed in several versions.

Starting letters, hints and checking

Under Letters given at the start, press a number from 0 to 5. Type a guess in any box and every box with the same code letter fills in. The tool refuses a guess that makes a letter stand for itself. Check marks wrong guesses and offers to take them out. Hint gives the most common letter you have not found. Start over can be undone.

Print it, share it, come back to it

Print puzzle gives a Letter or A4 sheet with a name and date line, the puzzle and an A to Z grid for keeping track. The answer key prints on a second page. Untick Print the answer key too to leave it off. Share copies a link that opens the same puzzle with empty boxes. Solved quotes are counted in this browser, New puzzle deals unsolved ones first, and an unfinished puzzle is there again when you return.

  • Start with one-letter words, which can only be A or I. Then look after an apostrophe, where the letter is nearly always S or T.
  • E, T and A are the most common letters in English, so the code letter you see most is a fair first guess for E. Common doubled letters are LL, EE, SS, OO and TT.
  • For a class, make the puzzle from the key sentence of the lesson: a science fact, a spelling rule, the answer to a riddle. Pupils read it several times while they solve it.
  • The pangram in the list uses all 26 letters, so solving it uncovers the whole code. The nonsense verse is the hardest, because made-up words defeat guessing by word shape.

Questions and answers

What is a cryptogram and how does the code work?

A cryptogram is a short text written in a substitution cipher. The 26 letters are shuffled into a secret key, and each letter of the message is replaced by its partner, the same one every time. If X stands for E in one word, it stands for E everywhere. It is not a fixed shift along the alphabet, so you solve it by word patterns and letter counts.

How do you solve a cryptogram?

Fill in one-letter words, then short common words. A three-letter word that appears twice is often THE, which gives you T, H and E at once. Every letter you place shows across the whole board, so check that half-built words still look like English, and take out any guess that produces nonsense.

What age is this suitable for?

As a rough guide, third and fourth graders manage a short proverb with 3 to 5 letters given, working in pairs. Fifth grade and up can start from 2, and a Shakespeare line with none given is a fair challenge for adults. The list below the tool shows every quote with its source, so you can read them first and type in the one you want.

Can I send someone a secret message?

Yes. Make the puzzle from your words and use Share. The link carries your message in code together with the key, so treat it as a puzzle, not as real secrecy, and keep student names and private details out of it. What you type stays in this browser unless you share the link. Text too long for a link can be printed.

Where do the quotes come from, and are they accurate?

All 163 were matched word for word against the full text of the book, poem, play or speech on Project Gutenberg or Wikisource, and the proverbs against a reference list. Famous lines that turned out to be misquoted or credited to the wrong person were left out. Every named author died before 1929, so the words are in the public domain. The source appears when you solve the puzzle.

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