Right. I start by looking for the single letter words which are “a” or “I”, and see what that gets me. Also, letters that follow an apostrophe.
Next, I look for the four letter word beginning and ending with the same letter, which is usually “that” - sometimes “else”.
Then words with double letters.
Sometimes, when there are two 2 letter words in a row sharing a letter, that provides a strong clue. 3 letter words are gold mines as well, since there are some common ones that most sentences require.
It’s rare when none of the above clues open it up - but if that is the case, I look for punctuation and sentence structure, and count on the fact that cryptograms are almost always “sayings”, which dictates that certain words must be subject or object nouns, and others verbs, adjectives or whatever.
Of course, patterns like “people” and “little” stand out.
I agree. They are declarations. Speachifying as Grandpa would call it.