"Authors must not, like Chinese soldiers, expect to win victories by turning somersets in the air."

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The motives and purposes of authors are not always so pure and high, as, in the enthusiasm of youth, we sometimes imagine. To many the trumpet of fame is nothing but a tin horn to call them home, like laborers from, the field, at dinner-time, and they think themselves lucky to get the dinner.

— Henry Wadsworth Longfellow