Happiness comes when your work and words are of benefit to yourself and others.

We humans are not creatures of instinct who all build our nests in the same way. Throughout our day, whether at home or at work, we humans adapt and innovate, improvise flexibly, at times acting from our 'gut feelings', at times from options we imagine and systematically try out, one after the other. Our creativity may involve anything from making breakfast to solving a major conflict with one's boss.

Most blocked creatives carry unacknowledged either/or reasoning that stands between them and their work. To become unblocked we must recognize our either/or thinking. "I can either be romantically happy or an artist." It is possible, quite possible, to be both an artist and romantically fulfilled. It is quite possible to be an artist and financially successful.

You cannot be really first-rate at your work if your work is all you are.

Begin where you are; work where you are; the hour which you are now wasting, dreaming of some far off success may be crowded with grand possibilities.

Many times, success comes through unseen doorways. When conventional routes have been exhausted, success steps forward wearing an eccentric cloak. How many times do breaks come to us through sources as unlikely as "my Dentist's cousin"? How often do we find that we are led through a maze of lucky breaks and coincidence? "God has a thousand ways to meet you," a minister friend of mine explains. "Do not look for someone else to give your dream permission to go forward. When you make one person or place the source of your lucky break, you are denying the power of God who can work from many corners." Trust God and look for the leadings.

A man's work is from sun to sun, but a mother's work is never done.

Consider the overwhelming abundance to which you are already connected. When you fully value and appreciate what you do have, there is no need to obsess and distress over what you don’t have.

By all means dream, and work to make those dreams real. Yet do it from an empowered perspective of abundance, not from a weak position of need.

Seek not to take from life, for in truth you already and always have more than enough. Choose instead to see yourself continually giving to life, and thereby fulfilling the most beautiful possibilities that live within you.

It is by sincerely giving of yourself that you strengthen your connection with life’s abundance. The more often you act to make a difference, the more resources you’ll have for doing so.

See each day, each task, each action from a perspective of abundance. Transform that abundance into value and fulfillment, and raise your world higher and higher.

Feel your purpose, feel your dreams, and then act upon them with confidence. As you make meaningful use of it, life’s abundance keeps on coming your way.

I always thought old age would be a writer’s best chance. Whenever I read the late work of Goethe or W. B. Yeats I had the impertinence to identify with it. Now, my memory’s gone, all the old fluency’s disappeared. I don’t write a single sentence without saying to myself, ‘It’s a lie!’ So I know I was right. It’s the best chance I’ve ever had.

Few things are impossible to diligence and skill. Great works are performed not by strength, but perseverance.

As artists, we do much better trying to keep things simple. We do better to compare ourselves solely to ourselves. Self-inventory is useful, while self-flagellation is not. Without calling our whole identity into question, there are inquiries that we can fruitfully ask. How am I developing as an artist? Am I doing the work necessary for me to mature? Did I work today? Yes? Well, that's good. Working today is what gives us currency and self-respect. Is is what cannot be taken away from us. There is dignity in work.

Can anything be sadder than work unfinished? Yes! Work never begun.

If you have a friend worth loving,
Love him. Yes, and let him know
That you love him, ere life’s evening
Tinge his brow with sunsets glow.
Why should good words ne’er be said
Of a friend–till he is dead?

If you hear a song that thrills you
Sung by any child of song,
Praise it. Do not let the singer
Wait deserved praises long.
Why should one who thrills your heart
Lack the joy you may impart?

If you hear a prayer that moves you
By its humble, pleading tone,
Join it. Do not let the seeker
Bow before his God alone.
Why should not your brother share
The strength of “two or three” in prayer?

If you see hot tears falling
From a brothers weeping eyes,
Share them. And by kindly sharing
Our own kinship in the skies.
Why should anyone be glad
Whan a brother’s heart is sad?

If a silvery laugh goes rippling
Through the sunshine on his face,
Share it. Tis the wish man’s saying
For both grief and joy a place.
There’s health and goodness in the mirth
In which an honest laugh has birth.

The secret of joy in work is contained in one word — excellence. To know how to do something well is to enjoy it.

I’ve something to say to you older folks, and you young folks listen too,
For what I’m about to say, will some day apply to you.

I know that some of you older folks are happily retired,
And have no ties to bind you, and work is no longer required.

So you’re sitting around in idleness, each day becomes a bore,
You’re beginning to start thinking, there’s nothing worth living for.

You’d like to be in some business, but think it’s too late to begin,
Well, I’ll tell you about a business, that all of you can be in.

Be in the business of staying young, make staying young a career,
Don’t live in the past; plan a future: look forward to each added year.

Don’t sit around and sigh, and let the world pass you by,
Get with it, and stay with it, all you have to do is to try.

Be willing to forget yourself, for at least once in awhile,
Place yourself second, and cause someone else to smile.

Kindness pays a thousand fold, this fact is more than true,
Try doing a favor here and there, and it will work for you.

Be willing to admit mistakes, humility is always grand,
The humble people are the ones that need a helping hand.

When a writer writes from the heart of what matters to him personally, the writing is often both personal and powerful. When a writer writes to what he thinks the market needs — writes, in other words, without a personal investment — the standard of writing is often lowered along with the stakes. Part of our duty as writers is to do the work of honestly determining what matters to us and to try to write about that. This may take a certain amount of courage. This may mean that we do not meet with immediate support from those who make decisions with an eye to the market.

Time is a primary concern in dealing with creative block. Most of us think, "If only I had more time, then I would work." We have a fantasy that there is such a thing as good creative time, an idyll of endless, seamless time unfolding invitingly for us to frolic in creatively. No such bolts of limitless time exist for most of us. Our days are chopped into segments, and if we are to be creative, we must learn to use the limited time we have.

Your work is to discover your work and then with all your heart to give yourself to it.

The only thing that overcomes hard luck is hard work.

Work is a necessary evil to be avoided.