“The world will always punish the few people with special talents the rest of us don’t recognize as real.”

“An absolutely necessary part of a writer's equipment, almost as necessary as talent, is the ability to stand up under punishment, both the punishment the world hands out and the punishment he inflicts upon himself.”

“Bob's talent, such as it is, consists entirely of the few unconscious charms of youth: its energy, audacity and complete inability to recognize its own shortcomings.”

“In my experience there are few people who are of true genius. There are many who are gifted, but most of the world's work and great things come from ordinary people with a talent which they develop.”

“There can be no real attachment to the given creation, no genuine responsibility in the world, unless we recognize the breach which already separates us from it.”

“Celebrity is the chastisement of merit and the punishment of talent.”