To yield to Resistance deforms our spirit. It stunts us and makes us less than we are and were born to be.

We must do our work for its own sake, not for fortune or attention or applause.

The critic hates most that which he would have done himself if he had had the guts.

Nothing fires the warrior’s heart more with courage than to find himself and his comrades at the point of annihilation, at the brink of being routed and overrun, and then to dredge not merely from one’s own bowels or guts but from one’s discipline and training the presence of mind not to panic, not to yield to the possession of despair, but instead to complete those homely acts of order which Dienekes had ever declared the supreme accomplishment of the warrior: to perform the commonplace under far-from-commonplace conditions.

Slay that dragon once, and he will never have power over you again.

The professional dedicates himself to mastering technique not because he believes technique is a substitute for inspiration but because he wants to be in possession of the full arsenal of skills when inspiration does come. The professional is sly. He knows that by toiling beside the front door of technique, he leaves room for genius to enter by the back.

Many pedestrians have been maimed or killed at the intersection of Resistance and Commerce.