Novelist and short story writer Henry James (1843-1916) was born in New York City. His father was a well-known theological writer and his brother was philosopher William James.

A self-described "devourer of libraries," James loved to travel and write of his experiences. He moved to Paris in 1875, then London where he wrote his first best-seller, Daisy Miller (1878).

"It takes a great deal of history to produce a little literature," he believed.

A life-long bachelor, he continued his "international theme" of complex characters which he called "Americano-European legends" with The Portrait of a Lady (1881). With a career of over 50 years, his literary output gave voice to "the spirit of place."

An influence to Gertrude Stein, Emile Zola, T.S. Eliot, and others, James observed in The Madonna of the Future (1879): "Cats and monkeys--monkeys and cats--all human life is there!"

"Live all you can; it's a mistake not to," he wrote in The Ambassadors (1903). "It doesn't so much mater what you do in particular, so long as you have your life. If you haven't had that what have you had?"

Wherever there is a human being, there is an opportunity for kindness.