Chapters 9 and 10:
IX.5 Skilled generals never drive their enemies to desperate action; they advance vigorously but always give their antagonists an opportunity for retreat, surrender or negotiation.
IX.30 Anyone who applies himself regularly, lengthily and energetically to a single project is certain, no matter what else happens, to encounter days of profound delight or unprecedented inspiration.
X.1 Patience is no more than generosity with time.
X.3 [Trollope and Flaubert] understood that no artistic necessity – not technique, elegance, genius itself – is more basic or inalienable that regular and expansive time.
X.18 . . . at its best, a work of art is like a perpetual motion machine, or a beam of light caught forever in a palace of mirrors.
X.19 The simplest form of creative expression available to most of us is the letter. Copies of our own letters are useful for our records and memories. In friendship, the letter is not only a message but a gift, a physical symbol of esteem and affection.
