The truth is the heroism of your childhood entertainments was not true valor. It was theater.
~ David Foster Wallace
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Theater →
Manual labor of the mind →
Writing is essentially donkey work, manual labor of the mind. What makes it bearable are those moments (which sometimes can last for weeks, months) when the book takes over, takes on a life of its own, goes off in unexpected directions.
~ John Gregory Dunne
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New ideas →
A mind once stretched by a new idea never regains its original dimensions.
~ Oliver Wendell Berry
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Be a reader →
I’m not saying that you have to be a reader to save your soul in the modern world. I’m saying it helps.
~ Walter Mosley
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Premeditation →
The premeditation of death is the premeditation of liberty; He who has learnt to die has forgot to serve.
~ Michel de Montaigne
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Boring →
Somebody’s boring me—I think it’s me.
~ Dylan Thomas
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The creative mind →
The creative mind gets poisoned with the idea that your great work will be the result of getting serious. So many of my good ideas come from what looks like goofing off, wasting time. Art is play. There’s no way to tell what’s deep or shallow until you play with the idea.
~ Austin Kleon
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Who was listening →
[…] so the Muse whispered in Beethoven’s ear. Maybe she hummed a few bars into a million other ears. But no one else heard her. Only Beethoven got it.
~ Steven Pressfield
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Sleep →
It’s a common experience that a problem difficult at night is resolved in the morning after the committee of sleep has worked on it.
~ John Steinbeck
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A bore →
A bore is a man who, when you ask him how he is, tells you.
~ Bert Taylor
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