It is hard to be finite upon an infinite subject, and all subjects are infinite. By some people, this entire scrawl of mine may be esteemed altogether unnecessary, inasmuch, 'as years ago' (they may say) 'we found out the rich and rare stuff in this Hawthorne, whom you now parade forth, as if only yourself were the discoverer of this Portuguese diamond in our Literature.' - But even granting all this; and adding to it, the assumption that the books of Hawthorne have sold by the five-thousand, - what does that signify? - They should be sold by the hundred-thousand, and read by the million; and admired by every one who is capable of Admiration.

The truth seems to be, that like many other geniuses, this Man of Mosses takes great delight in hoodwinking the world, - at least, with respect to himself. Per…

I found that but to glean after this man, is better than to be in at the harvest of others.

Where Hawthorne is known, he seems to be deemed a pleasant writer, with a pleasant style, - a sequestered, harmless man, from whom any deep and weighty thing w…

What life means to me is to put the content of Shelley into the form of Zola. The proletarian writer is a writer with a purpose; he thinks no more of 'art for …

At present, I am a poet trying to be a soldier. To tell the truth, I am not interested in writing nowadays, except in so far as writing is the expression of so…

I see journalists as the manual workers, the laborers of the word. Journalism can only be literature when it is passionate.