Put aside your need for a step-by-step manual and instead realize that analogies are your best friend.

I wonder why anyone would hesitate to be generous with their writing. I mean, if you really want to make a living, go to Wall Street and trade oil futures ... We're writers. We're doing something that is inherently a generous act. We're exposing ourselves to the muse and to the things that frighten us. Why do that if you're not willing to be generous? And paradoxically, almost ironically, it turns out that the more generous you are, the more money you make. But that's secondary. For me, the privilege of being generous is why I get to do this.

Art is never defect-free. Things that are remarkable never meet spec, because that would make them standardized, not worth talking about.

Turn strangers into friends. Turn friends into donors. And then do the most important job: Turn your donors into fundraisers.

As the amount of inputs go up, as the number of people and ideas that clamor for attention continue to increase, we do what people always do: we rely on the familiar, the trusted and the personal. The incredible surplus of digital data means that human actions, generosity and sacrifice are more important than they ever were before.

We're going to spend our entire future living in tomorrow-investing now, when it's difficult, is the single best moment.

Solving problems—actually solving them, not just claiming you do—solving perceived, urgent problems, is a surefire way to get the world to beat a path to your door.