That was the trouble with being a writer, that was the main trouble—leisure time, excessive leisure time. You had to wait around for the buildup until you could write and while you were waiting you went crazy, and while you were going crazy you drank and the more you drank the crazier you got.

nothing can save you except writing. it keeps the walls from failing.

it's good to have things done with when they don't work it's also good not to hate or even forget the person you've failed with.

Those faces you see every day on the streets were not created entirely without hope: be kind to them: like you they have not escaped.

the history of melancholia includes all of us.

There is nothing that teaches you more than regrouping after failure and moving on. Yet most people are stricken with fear. They fear failure so much that they fail. They are too conditioned, too used to being told what to do. It begins with the family, runs through school and goes into the business world.

If you have the ability to love, love yourself first.