If we were born to overthrow the order of ignorance and injustice of the world, it’s our job to realize it and get down to business.

For what can be more noble than to slay oneself? Not literally. Not with a blade in the guts. But to extinguish the selfish self within, that part which looks only to its own preservation, to save its own skin. That, I saw, was the victory you Spartans had gained over yourselves. That was the glue. It was what you had learned and it made me stay, to learn it too.

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

The professional does not permit himself to become hidebound within one incarnation, however comfortable or successful. Like a transmigrating soul, he shucks his outworn body and dons a new one. He continues his journey.

Someone once asked Somerset Maughham if he wrote on a schedule or only when struck by inspiration. "I write only when inspiration strikes," he replied. "Fortunately it strikes every morning at nine o'clock sharp.

If we were born to overthrow the order of ignorance and injustice of the world, it’s our job to realize it and get down to business.

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