Writing doesn't require drive. It's like saying a chicken has to have drive to lay an egg.

A photograph presents itself not only as a visual representation, but as evidence, more convincing than a painting because of the unimpeachable mechanical means whereby it was made. We do not trust the artist's flattering hand; but we do trust film, and shadows, and light.

Why does life feel, to us as we experience it, so desperately urgent and so utterly pointless at the same time?

Hemingway describes literary New York as a bottle full of tapeworms trying to feed on each other.

What we need is progress with an escape hatch.

I must go to Nature disarmed of perspective and stretch myself like a large transparent canvas upon her in the hope that, my submission being perfect, the imprint of a beautiful and useful truth would be taken.

Living is a compromise, between doing what you want and doing what other people want.