Pastoral Resources

An absolutely necessary part of a writer's equipment, almost as necessary as talent, is the ability to stand up under punishment, both the punishment the world hands out and the punishment he inflicts upon himself.

The romantic idea is that everybody around a writer must suffer for his talent. I think a writer is a citizen of humanity, part of his nation, part of his family. He may have to make some compromises.

The ability to get ahead in an organization is simply another talent, like the ability to play chess, paint pictures, do coronary bypass operations or pick pockets.

Another woman approached me while I was having lunch at the Russian Tea Room in New York and told me that the reason she had become a lawyer was because she had read 'Rage of Angels'. To me, that kind of feedback has more meaning than any sales figures.

Talent is a gift that can be given, and it can be taken away. We have to appreciate that.

You may not have any extra talent, but maybe you are just paying more attention to what you are doing.

You have to be there not for the fame and glory and recognition and being a page in a history book, but you have to be there because you believe your talent and ability can be applied effectively to operation of the spacecraft.

Again, talent is the real import of being in the business.

If you've got talent, stick with it... because talent wins out, without a doubt.

So right off, I'm going to have to say that a lot of people have been comparing Life Is Killing Me to World Coming Down, and I think a lot of those people equate art and sales figures, and I don't do that.

Tact is one of the first mental virtues, the absence of it is fatal to the best talent.

I don't consider myself to be a major talent, so the only solace I can take is to hope I'm growing.

Most of the dogmatic religions have exhibited a perverse talent for taking the wrong side on the most important concepts in the material universe, from the structure of the solar system to the origin of man.

People often remark that I'm pretty lucky. Luck is only important in so far as getting the chance to sell yourself at the right moment. After that, you've got to have talent and know how to use it.

Discipline is the refining fire by which talent becomes ability.

A great deal of talent is lost to the world for want of a little courage. Every day sends to their graves obscure men whose timidity prevented them from making a first effort.

A best-seller is the gilded tomb of a mediocre talent.

Whatever you are by nature, keep to it; never desert your line of talent. Be what nature intended you for, and you will succeed.

Talent is always conscious of its own abundance, and does not object to sharing.

In the past the publishers I've worked with have been extremely generous. And in almost every case, have been people who believed in the work rather than the sales and marketing.