Keep me up till five because all your stars are out, and for no other reasonโฆOh dare to do it Buddy! Trust your heart. Youโre a deserving craftsman. It would never betray you. Good night. Iโm feeling very much over-excited now, and a little dramatic, but I think Iโd give almost anything on earth to see you writing a something, an anything, a poem, a tree, that was really and truly after your own heart.
J. D. SalingerI'm not afraid to compete. It's just the opposite. Don't you see that? I'm afraid I will compete โ that's what scares me. That's why I quit the Theatre Department. Just because I'm so horribly conditioned to accept everybody else's values, and just because I like applause and people to rave about me, doesn't make it right. I'm ashamed of it. I'm sick of it. I'm sick of not having the courage to be an absolute nobody. I'm sick of myself and everybody else that wants to make some kind of a splash.
J. D. SalingerYouโd better get busy, though, buddy. The goddam sands run out on you every time You turn around. I know what Iโm talking about. Youโre lucky if you get time to sneeze In this goddam phenomenal world.
J. D. Salinger