I think most human frustrations come from comparing ourselves to others, and in doing so, assume that whatever our object of comparison does well, they do well out of nature, while the odds are clearly stacked against us.

Inspiration never comes, the bills instead do, then sometimes family happens, and there are other people’s expectations, our upbringing, and our integrity, and that humiliating experience you never want to live again, and what if you fail? And what if you don’t know? And what will they think of you?

If you could just be more like that person, things would come easy to you too.

A sweet delusion offering a fleeting sense of freedom from responsibility but denying freedom itself.

The simple truth is that if you find something hard, it’s because it is hard.

Writing is hard work. A clear sentence is no accident. Very few sentences come out right the first time, or even the third time. Remember this in moments of despair. If you find that writing is hard, it’s because it is hard.

—William Zinsser