I hadn't the personality to be a long-term Success.

not only have children most certainly a right to their own ambitions, but their own lack of ambitions.

New York, forever the port of em- and de-barkation en route to Adventure.

Cry down materialism all you will, surely one of the thoroughly satisfactory sensations of this world is to feel financially independent.

The main trouble with this civilized world isn't that we adventure too much, but that we fail to adventure enough.

I hadn't the personality to be a long-term Success.

... rarely if ever does one feel sure one knows enough to go ahead with much of anything new. You bank on faith and courage and the ability to learn on the job.