Jeremiah

“The first study for the man who wants to be a poet is knowledge of himself, complete: he searches for his soul, he inspects it, he puts it to the test, he learns it. As soon as he has learned it, he must cultivate it! I say that one must be a seer, make oneself a seer. The poet becomes a seer through a long, immense, and reasoned derangement of all the senses. All shapes of love suffering, madness. He searches himself, he exhausts all poisons in himself, to keep only the quintessences. Ineffable torture where he needs all his faith, all his superhuman strength, where he becomes among all men the great patient, the great criminal, the great accursed one--and the supreme Scholar! For he reaches the unknown! ....So the poet is actually a thief of Fire!”
― Arthur Rimbaud

“Take pains. Be perfect.”
― William Shakespeare, A Midsummer Night’s Dream

“We must travel in the direction of our fear.”
― John Berryman

“Be the second smartest guy in the room. Listen to what the smartest guy says and then figure out how to say it.”
― Luke Sullivan, Hey Whipple, Squeeze This: A Guide to Creating Great Ads