Melville brought to the task a sound knowledge of actual whaling, much curious learning in the literature of the subject, and, above all, an imagination which worked with great power upon the facts of his own experience.

IT is mere coincidence that Cooper was born in the year which produced The Power of Sympathy and that when he died Uncle Tom's Cabin was passing through its serial stage, and yet the limits of his life mark almost exactly the first great period of American fiction.

Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination enircles the world.

There is first the literature of KNOWLEDGE, and secondly, the literature of POWER. The function of the first is -- to teach; the function of the second is -- to move.

There has never been a time like this, in which we have the power to create knowledge and the power to create havoc, and both these powers rest in the same hands.

In all sincere speech there is power, not necessarily great power, but as much as the speaker is capable of.