Adages

Marriage is not 50 – 50. Divorce is 50-50. Marriage is 100 – 100. Overheard

He who works with his hands is a laborer. He who works with his hands and his head is a craftsman. He who works with his hands, his head, and his heart, is an artist. St. Francis of Assisi

The pessimist complains of the wind; The optimist expects it to change; The realist adjust the sails. William Arthur Ward

Progression (or regression?) of a writer One starts as a writer. Then becomes a teacher. The next step is to be an editor. In the final stage you become a critic.

A mentor is a spirit with many faces. Find the one, who builds you up. Avoid the one who tears you down. The first type sees only problems. The second sees potential.

“A critic is someone who enters the battlefield after the war is over and shoots the wounded.” Murray Kempton. American journalist

The past is never dead, and is not even past… William Faulkner

It’s not what happens to the people on the page, it’s about what happens to the reader. Gordon Lish

Getting older is raising from the ground up, seeing less details, but having better overview. When up, one suddenly realizes he’s at peace. High in space, there’s no noise, quiet and the air is cleaner. You see only important things.

It would be a mistake to treat any novel as autobiography. Rather, it’s an author’s insights into life’s secret places. Robert McKee.