So remember these two things: you are talented and you are original. Be sure of that. I say this because self-trust is one of the very most important things in writing.

We are always afraid to start something that we want to make very good, true, and serious.

We should all know this: that listening is not talking; [it] is the gifted and great role and the imaginative role. And the true listener is much more beloved, magnetic than the talker, and he is more effective, and learns more and does more good. And so try listening. Listen to your wife, your husband, your father, your mother, your children, your friends; to those who love you and those who don't, to those who bore you, to your enemies. It will work a small miracle. And perhaps a great one.

It is so conceited and timid to be ashamed of one's mistakes. Of course they are mistakes. Go on to the next.

... the spirit, I think, is a stream, a fountain, and must be continually poured out, for only if it is poured out will more and clearer streams come.

Why should we all use our creative power....? Because there is nothing that makes people so generous, joyful, lively, bold and compassionate, so indifferent to fighting and the accumulation of objects and money.

I will tell you what I have learned myself. For me, a long five or six mile walk helps. And one must go alone and every day.