"I would rather stop too soon than too late." - Interview for The Guardian (2011)

Don’t stop when you are tired. Stop when you are done.

You must also have a sense of when to stop.

Each of our passions, even love, has a stomach that must not be overloaded. We must in everything write the word 'finis' in time; we must restrain ourselves, when it becomes urgent; we must draw the bolt on the appetite, play a fantasia on the violin, then break the strings with our own hand. The Wise man is he who knows when and how to stop.

Avoid making any kind of important decision when you are either hungry, angry, lonely, or tired (HALT). Just halt when you are HALT.

One thing I tell myself is that, if you give up now you are not giving up because of others, you are giving up because of yourself. If you want to stop then that’s your choice, but bear in mind that it is never someone else’s fault, it’s never an obstacle, it’s never a situation, it’s you.

When there is a problem, do not just keep going with the intention of fixing it later. Stop and fix the problem now.

To talk well and eloquently is a very great art, but that an equally great one is to know the right moment to stop.

. . .There are moments when time does stop. We must be alert enough to notice such moments . . .

I don’t stop when I’m tired. I only stop when I’m done ...

Would it save you a lot of time if I just gave up and went mad now?

You get so frightfully hungry as soon as you learn that there are no more meals coming.

Wait until you are hungry to say something, until there is an aching in you to speak. Then come back.
Don't worry. You won't have lost time. Your energy will be more direct and less wasted.

There is, I feel, an age at which the individual man would want to stop: you wi l seek the age at which you would desire your Species had stopped. Discontented with your present state for reasons that foretell even greater discontents for your unhappy Posterity, perhaps you would want to be able to go backward in time. This sentiment must be the Eulogy of your first ancestors, the criticism of your contemporaries, and the dread of those who will have the unhappiness to live after you.