“For a writer, life is always too short to write. I will just try my best during what remains of my life.”

“The only heroes in the world are you and I.”

“The poor dragon is trapped, alone and cold; He cannot leap out of the depths; He cannot rise to the heavens; He cannot even descend onto fields. The poor dragon fell into the deep well; Even catfish dance before him; He hides his teeth and claws and sighs; And I am this depressed as well?”

“I'd rather betray the world than let the world betray me.”

“What is this called, what I am doing, to myself, to my life, this wallowing, this pondering, this rolling over and over in the same places of my memory, wearing them thin, wearing them out? Why don't I ever learn? Why don't I ever do anything different?”

“This, then, is my choice:I can allow the events of my life to happen to me.Or I can take those very same actions and make them my own. I can live in my own present, risk failure, be assured of failure.”

“I am transcribing a book that I have, in a sense, not yet written, and in another sense, have always written, and in another sense, am currently writing, and in another sense, am always writing, and in another sense, will never write.”