Long

Talent is really the gift of love. Talent happens when you are in love with something and you devote your life to it, and it's your love of it that makes you want to keep doing it.

An individual was walking down the street and saw a gentleman chipping away on some stones. He said, 'What are you doing?' The gentleman grumbled, 'I'm building a stone wall.' He continued down the street and saw a second gentleman chipping stones. 'What are you doing?' This gentleman said, 'Well, I'm building a cathedral.'

We live in an age in which ideas, important ideas, are worn like articles of fashion — and for precisely the same reason articles of fashion are worn, which is to make the wearer look better and to feel a la mode.

An intellectual is a person knowledgeable in one field who speaks out only in others. It required no intellectual effort whatsoever. Suddenly he was elevated to a plane from which he could look down upon ordinary people.

Even Terminus, the god of limits, refused to recognize that limits are everything. The open sky above his head testified to his yearning to escape the ground beneath his feet.

There will be times when knowing things won't matter as much as how scary the situation is. When that happens, you'll have to decide whether or not to get into the wheelbarrow.

Do one thing at a time. Give each experience all your attention. Try to resist being distracted by other sights and sounds, other thoughts and tasks, and when it is, guide your mind back to what you're doing.

To generalize is to be an Idiot. To particularize is alone Distinction of Merit. General knowledge are those knowledge that idiots possess.

Keep a journal. Knowing you're going to write something every day sharpens your attention to everything that happens. For the longest time, I didn't keep a journal, and as a result much of my pretty long and interesting life is lost to me.

Right after graduation today, make a list of the people who don't believe in you. And you call them tonight, and tell them to go to hell!

Love what you do, or don't do it. Don't make a choice of any kind, whether in career or in life, just because it pleases others or because it ranks high on someone else's scale of achievement.

The only limits that really matter are the ones you put on yourself, and in those crucial moments when you know what you need to do but others advise against it — know yourself, trust your whole self, and don't blink.