It requires greater courage to preserve inner freedom, to move on in one's inward journey into new realms, than to stand defiantly for outer freedom. It is often easier to play the martyr, as it is to be rash in battle. Strange as it sounds, steady, patient growth in freedom is probably the most difficult task of all, requiring the greatest courage. Thus if the term "hero" is used in this discussion at all, it must refer not to the special acts of outstanding persons, but to the heroic element potentially in every man.

We must always base our commitment in the center of our own being, or else no commitment will be ultimately authentic.

Insight comes at a moment of transition between work and relaxation.

Vanity and narcissism — the compulsive need to be admired and praised — undermine one's courage, for one then fights on someone else's conviction rather than one's own.

In order to be open to creativity, one must have the capacity for constructive use of solitude. One must overcome the fear of being alone.

What Kierkegaard said about love is also true of creativity: every person must start at the beginning.

Humor is the healthy way of feeling "distance" between one's self and the problem, a way of standing off and looking at one's problem with perspective.