I Found Out Early That

It's Easy To Slide Into Believing You're The Hypnotist Here, The Mirage Master, The Smart Cookie Who Knows What's Real And How All The Tricks Are Done. The Fact Is You're Still Just Another Slack-jawed Mark In The Audience. No Matter How Good You Are, This World Is Always Going To Be Better At This Game. It's More Cunning Than You Are, It's Faster And It's A Whole Lot More Ruthless. All You Can Do Is Try To Keep Up, Know Your Weak Spots And Never Stop Expecting The Sucker Punch.

Regardless Of The Advertising Campaigns May Tell Us, We Can't Have It All. Sacrifice Is Not An Option, Or An Anachronism; It's A Fact Of Life. We All Cut Off Our Own Limbs To Burn On Some Altar. The Crucial Thing Is To Choose An Altar That's Worth It And A Limb You Can Accept Losing. To Go Consenting To The Sacrifice.

We Think Of Mortality So Little These Days... I Thought Of The Stern Victorian Determination To Keep Death In Mind, The Uncompromising Tombstones. Remember, Pilgrim, As You Pass By, As You Are Now So Once Was I: As I Am So Will You Be.

Sometimes, When You're Close To Someone, You Miss Things. Other People Can See Them, But You Can't.

If You Rewrite A Paragraph Fifty Times And Forty-nine Of Them Are Terrible, That's Fine; You Only Need To Get It Right Once.