We ought to rejoice greatly in him. He occasionally suggests something a little more than human. You can't confound him with the o...ther inhabitants of Brooklyn or New York. How they must shudder when they read him! He is awfully good. To be sure I sometimes feel a little imposed on. By his heartiness and broad generalities he puts me into a liberal frame of mind prepared to see wonders,--as it were, sets me upon a hill or in the midst of a plain,--stirs me well up, and then--throws in a thousand of brick. Though rude, and sometimes ineffectual, it is a great primitive poem,--an alarum or trumpet-note ringing through the American camp. Wonderfully like the Orientals, too.... Since I have seen him, I find that I am not disturbed by any brag or egoism in his book. He may turn out the least of a braggart of all, having a better right to be confident. He is a great fellow.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
And for the citation of so many authors, 'tis the easiest thing in nature. Find out one of these books with an alphabetical index,... and without any farther ceremony, remove it verbatim into your own ... there are fools enough to be thus drawn into an opinion of the work; at least, such a flourishing train of attendants will give your book a fashionable air, and recommend it for sale.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
I am told that Duclos' book is not in vogue in Paris, and that it is being violently criticized, apparently because readers unders...tand it; and being intelligible is no longer the fashion.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
There is a Book By seraphs writ with beams of heavenly light,... On which the eyes of God not rarely look,
A chronicle of actions just and bright-- There all thy deeds, my faithful Mary, shine; And since thou own'st that praise, I spare thee mine.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
There is no luck in literary reputation. They who make up the final verdict upon every book are not the partial and noisy readers ...of the hour when it appears; but a court as of angels, a public not to be bribed, not to be entreated, and not to be overawed, decides upon every man's title to fame. Only those books come down which deserve to last.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
I've tried to reduce profanity but I reduced so much profanity when writing the book that I'm afraid not much could come out. Perh...aps we will have to consider it simply as a profane book and hope that the next book will be less profane or perhaps more sacred.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »