“A great city like this is the only geography for such a character. He would be impossible in a small country town, where everybody knows everybody and what everybody has for lunch.”

Humorously contrasting the anonymity of city life with the intimate scrutiny of small communities · Ponkapog Papers, Leaves from a Note Book (1903)

• Community
• Humour
• Society

“When he dies, this phantasmal personality fades away, and the author lives only in the impression created by his own literature.”

Arguing that literary work ultimately outlasts the personality and reputation surrounding its creator · Ponkapog Papers, Leaves from a Note Book (1903)

• Death
• Fame
• Literature

“A man cannot keep a daily record of his comings and goings and the little items that make up the sum of his life, and not inadvertently betray himself at every turn.”

Suggesting that ordinary details recorded honestly reveal character more clearly than formal autobiography · Ponkapog Papers, Leaves from a Note Book (1903)

• Character
• Identity
• Writing