Each individual has a right to choose his own career in life, so long as
that career is respectable and bodes no evil to humanity.
If, as your father threatens, he refuses to give you support while you
are exploring the field of literature, you should feel grateful to him
for this unintentional incentive to success.
I do not agree with those who consider the necessity to earn money a
misfortune to genius.
I believe the greatest works of art given to the world have been brought
to light through necessity.
The artistic temperament is almost invariably combined with a propensity
to dream, and to float upon the clouds of imagination.
The ranks of wealth and comfort are full of talented and accomplished
people who "never are, but always to be" great.
One great man in a score may have been reared in affluence, but I doubt
if the statistics would show so large a percentage.
There are many hills which contain valuable ore, but if the owner sits
in ease upon these elevations, and gazes at the sunsets, he does not
find the ore. If he is a poor man, and takes his pick and _digs_, he
finds his fortune.
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