23/ Dignity

Ultimately there is but one audience. The writer must write for himself. He must try to free himself from the winds of opinion that blow him this way one day and that way another. The writer must constantly return to the spontaneity of the act itself, the dignity and joy must be found there. To return to the creative impulse, to work without hope or fear of praise or calumny is indeed dignified. It is a life's work, a struggle more important than any particular book or essay, more important than any passing criticism or hyperbole.