“The poet's trade is the hardest trade of all trades in the world; his compensation is the poorest; his triumphs the fewest; not one in ten thousand can earn his bread at it.”

Strips the calling of romance and treats it as a harsh profession · Preface, Complete Poetical Works

• Difficulty
• Poetry
• Work

“Man reads too much and reasons too little. Great artists are not great readers but great observers.”

Puts looking at the world above living in libraries · Notes from The Hights

• Artists
• Observation
• Reading

“Give a man five years, and, with unfortunate exceptions of course, he will find his level on the Pacific, and his place, whether high or low, as naturally as a stream of water.”

Sees the West as a force that sorts character without ceremony · Life Amongst the Modocs: Unwritten History

• America
• Character
• Place