Artist has seasons, as trees, when he cannot blossom Book that they are content to know at second hand Business to take advantage of his necessity Competition has deformed human nature Conditions of hucksters imposed upon poets Fate of a book is in the hands of the women God of chance leads them into temptation and adversity Historian, who is a kind of inferior realist I do not think any man ought to live by an art If he has not enjoyed writing no one will enjoy reading Impropriety if not indecency promises literary success Literature beautiful only through the intelligence Literature has no objective value Literature is Business as well as Art Man is strange to himself as long as he lives Men read the newspapers, but our women read the books Most journalists would have been literary men if they could Never quite sure of life unless I find literature in it No rose blooms right along Our huckstering civilization Public whose taste is so crude that they cannot enjoy the best Rogues in every walk of life There is small love of pure literature Two branches of the novelist's trade: Novelist and Historian Work not truly priced in money cannot be truly paid in money LITERATURE AND LIFE [WH#36][whlal10.txt]3389 Impropriety if not indecency promises literary success. Literature is beautiful only through the intelligence. Public whose taste is so crude that they cannot enjoy the best. They say frankly that the summer folks have no idea how pleasant it is when they are gone. The trouble with success is that it is apt to leave life behind, or apart. The successful writer especially is in danger of becoming isolated from the realities that nurtured in him the strength to win success. I think that every author who is honest with himself must own that his work would be twice as good if it were done twice. At once put aside all anxiety about style; that is a thing that will take care of itself; it will be added unto him if he really has something to say; for style is only a man's way of saying a thing. If I were to sin my sins over again, I think I should sin a little more on the side of candid severity. I am sure I should do more good in that way, and I am sure that when I used to dissemble my real mind I did harm to those whose feelings I wished to spare. MY MARK TWAIN [WH#37][whmmt10.txt]3390