Quotes About Effort

Almost all good writing begins with terrible first efforts. You need to start somewhere. Start by getting something—anything—down on paper. What I've learned to do when I sit down to work on a shitty first draft is to quiet the voices in my head.

But easy's like, who cares? Easy's like, how much is easy going to get you?

Say it's true: It is what it is. We're social, tribal, musical animals, walking percussion instruments. Most of us do the best we can. We show up. We strive for gratitude, and try not to be such babies.

Writing like this is a little like milking a cow: the milk is so rich and delicious, and the cow is so glad you did it.

day by day you have to give the work before you all the best stuff you have, not saving up for later projects. If you give freely, there will always be more.

it was about tragedy transformed over the years into joy. It was about the beauty of sheer effort. I

Getting all your addictions under control is like trying to put an octopus to bed

even though you know that your manuscript is not perfect and you'd hoped for so much more, but if you also know that there is simply no more steam in the pressure cooker and that it's the very best you can do for now—well? I think this means that you are done.

Sometimes I could not tell you exactly why, especially when it feels pointless and pitiful, like Sisyphus with cash-flow problems. Other

I've managed to get some work done nearly every day of my adult life, without impressive financial success.

Living was struggling to do something impossible—to succeed, or die, knowing you had tried!

Every step, even a tentative one, counts.

Nothing worth having was gained without courage.

I have named them the hounds of Sisyphus.

And I saw that if I were to maximize every experience available to me, I must exert my own powers over my learning.

Slowly, I managed to rise from this cold and handsome grave which I had fashioned for myself, and I did at last, after great effort, sit on the cold marble floor, seeing the glint of golden walls through a bit of light that seeped into the chamber around the edges of the upper door.

Sometimes when he was dealing with people, he felt like he was operating one of those claw machines on a boardwalk, those shovel things where you tried to scoop up a prize but the controls were too unwieldy and you worked at too great a remove.

What's the point of living if you don't try to do things better?

It was Serena who'd said that motherhood was much too hard and, when you got right down to it, perhaps not worth the effort.

with your family, if with no one else, you have to keep on trying.

I cannot cause light; the most I can do is try to put myself in the path of its beam.

I cannot imagine a sorrier pursuit than struggling for years to write a book that attempts to appeal to people who do not read in the first place.

I cannot cause light; the most I can do is try to put myself in the path of its beam. It is possible, in deep space, to sail on solar wind. Hone and spread your spirit till you yourself are a sail, whetted, translucent, broadside to the merest puff.

a few of the principles by which I live: A good gag is worth any amount of time, money and effort; never draw to fill an inside straight; always keep score in games, never in love; never say 'Muskrat Ramble'; always keep them guessing; never listen to the same conversation twice; and (this is the hard part) listen to no one.