“No matter how great a writer, artist, or entrepreneur, he is a mortal, he is fallible. He is not proof against Resistance. He will drop the ball; he will crash. That’s why they call it rewriting.”

“The good artist believes that nobody is good enough to give him advice. He has supreme vanity. No matter how much he admires the old writer, he wants to beat him.”

“For there is no one so great or mighty that he can avoid the misery that will rise up against him when he resists and strives against God”

“He balled up my discardedsweatshirt and put it against his shoulder.“Go on,” he said. “I don’t bite.”“And from what I hear, that’s a good thing.”He gave a rumbling chuckle. “Yeah, it is.”I leaned against his shoulder.”

“Let the writer take up surgery or bricklaying if he is interested in technique. There is no mechanical way to get the writing done, no shortcut. The young writer would be a fool to follow a theory. Teach yourself by your own mistakes; people learn only by error. The good artist believes that nobody is good enough to give him advice. He has supreme vanity. No matter how much he admires the old writer, he wants to beat him.”

“No great artist ever sees things as they really are. If he did, he would cease to be an artist.”