Career Pressure Quotes

“Good jobs were vanishingly rare in academia. Alice very much wanted one. She wouldn't know what to do with herself otherwise. She had trained her entire life to do this one thing, and if she could not do it, then she had no reason to live.”
― R.F. Kuang, Katabasis

“It's been a long path to sleep recovery, including many short-lived 'fail-safe' soporifics like reading economics textbooks before bed, burning incense, wearing ear plugs and eye masks, installing block-out blinds and buying 'not-too-warm-but-not-too-cool' bedding. A daily dose of melatonin helps. But most critically, it's her realisation that no one can be 'on' all the time. 'Don't complain if you can't sleep' is no longer a career-ending threat. She's managing the hours, but now it's her heart that's calling the shots.”
― Fleur Anderson, On Sleep

“If I just do Molly's book, it'll go uncredited. No one will know that I worked on it. It'll do nothing for me or my career. I may as well have not written anything at all."
"But is that what this is all about for you? You and your career? Is that why you became a writer, so that people would know who you are? Or was it to do work that matters?"
This was spilling over into the same debate that they'd had on their first date. Gabe was comfortable in the shadows, setting his ego aside and staying out of the limelight. But was Gabe doing the honorable thing or the cowardly thing? What kind of career could you have--- as either a chef or a writer--- if nobody knew who you were? Isabella wasn't sure that she wanted to give up her shot at the limelight just yet.
"You can be a well-known writer who does good, meaningful work... They're not mutually exclusive," countered Isabella.
"Is it good, meaningful work when you're betraying someone who trusts you? To expose all of their secrets and stories from their private life?"
That one stung.
"It's not a betrayal when you're telling the truth," argued Isabella, repositioning herself to face Gabe.
"If someone lets you into their world," said Gabe, rolling to face her, "isn't there a presumption of privacy? I can't imagine writing a tell-all about any of the chefs that I've worked for, even when the chef was shitty. Nobody in my industry would ever do that."
"Of course they would! Haven't you ever seen The Bear?"
"The Bear's a TV show."
"But it started as a book."
"I'm pretty sure it didn't."
"The point is," said a flustered Isabella, getting out of bed, "the right choice will be obvious to me when it's time."
She said it with such conviction she almost believed it herself.
"The right choice is obvious to me now.”
― Adam D. Roberts, Food Person