We come into this world with a specific, personal destiny. We have a job to do, a calling to enact, a self to become. We are who we are from the cradle, and we're stuck with it.

Art is a war - between ourselves and the forces of self-sabotage that would stop us from doing our work. The artist is a warrior.

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

You are a writer when you tell yourself you are. No one else's opinion matters. Screw them. You are when you say you are.

Figure out what scares you the most and do that first.

The sign of the amateur is overglorification of and preoccupation with the mystery. The professional shuts up. She doesn't talk about it. She does her work.

The athlete knows the day will never come when he wakes up pain-free. He has to play hurt.