Of any activity you do, ask yourself: If I were the last person on earth, would I still do it?

The more fear we feel about a specific enterprise, the more certain we can be that that enterprise is important to us and to the growth of our soul.

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.

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

When you're a working writer, sooner or later friends and acquaintances will get you alone and confide that they, too, have a book in them.

I had always been an enthusiastic reader of stuff about ancient Greece. I would read Herodotus and Thucydides just for fun.

Stay stupid. Follow your unconventional crazy heart.