Don't wait for someone else to validate you. Validate yourself.

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.

On the field of The Self stand a knight and a dragon. You are the knight. Resistance is the dragon.

Be too dumb to quit and too stubborn to back off.

As all born teachers, he was primarily a student.

I wrote in the War of Art that I could divide my life neatly into two parts: before turning pro and after. After is better.

These scars on my body,” Alexander declared, “were got for you, my brothers. Every wound, as you see, is in the front. Let that man stand forth from your ranks who has bled more than I, or endured more than I for your sake. Show him to me, and I will yield to your weariness and go home.” Not a man came forward. Instead, a great cheer arose from the army. The men begged their king to forgive them for their want of spirit and pleaded with him only to lead them forward.