Better to complete a small task well, than to do much imperfectly.
They can't yank a novelist like they can a pitcher. A novelist has to go the full nine, even if it kills him.
Never delay kissing a pretty girl or opening a bottle of whiskey
No, that is the great fallacy: the wisdom of old men. They do not grow wise. They grow careful.
All cowardice comes from not truly loving, or at least, not loving well.
You know that fiction, prose rather, is possibly the roughest trade of all in writing. You do not have the reference, the old important reference. You have the sheet of blank paper, the pencil, and the obligation to invent truer than things can be true. You have to take what is not palpable and make it completely palpable and also have it seem normal and so that it can become a part of experience of the person who reads it.
The world breaks everyone or nearly everyone, of their childish illusions, assumptions and wishes, often painfully and afterwards due to the personal growth in practical experience, insight and the resulting wisdom many are strong at the broken places just like mended broken bones often are, and some people even have the great insight to be grateful for the purifying fire.
Plato dramatically puts the detachment of the philosopher from his time this way: to philosophize is to prepare to die.
When I was just a little young boy, Papa said Son, you'll never get far, I'll tell you the reason if you want to know, 'cause child of mine, there isn't really very far to go.
I mean, we've had Republican majorities in the House and even the Senate for a couple of years. How has that worked out, stopping [Barack] Obama, hmm? Seriously.
How seek the way which leadeth to our wishes? By renouncing our wishes. The crown of excellence is renunciation.