To freely bloom – that is my definition of success.
-Gerry Spence, lawyer
In old age Jean often said that, could the choice be offered her, she would have preferred a life of only average happiness to the greatest literary triumphs.
-Francis Wyndham, on Jean Rhys.
Ahead of him, directly in front of his face and shoulders, there was a circle of dark firm earth. Behind him was the tunnel he had dug so far, but Seryozha never looked back and never counted how many feet he had come. He knew that other insects, ants for instance, were happy with a fairly short burrow and could carry out their life's work in a few hours using the serrated edges of their legs. But he never dwelt on such comparisons, aware that once he stopped and began to compare himself with others, it would begin to seem he had already achieved a great deal, and he would lose the sense of resentment toward life that was essential to his struggle.
-From The Life of Insects by Victor Pelevin
I wish I was Briana Evigan
-Quentin S. Crisp
