In utter loneliness a writer tries to explain the inexplicable... The writer must believe that what he is doing is the most important thing in the wo… - John Steinbeck

The writer must believe that what he is doing is the most important thing in the world. And he must hold onto this illusion, even though he knows it's not true.

… the writer must believe that what he is doing is the most important thing in the world. And he must hold to this illusion even when he knows it is not true.

It is the nature of a man as he grows older, a small bridge in time, to protest against change, particularly change for the better. But it is true that we have exchanged corpulence for starvation, and either one will kill us.

For how can one know colour in perpetual green, and what good is warmth without cold to give it sweetness?

Many a trip continues long after movement in time and space have ceased. I remember a man in Salinas who in his middle years traveled to Honolulu and back, and that journey continued for the rest of his life. We could watch him in his rocking chair on his front porch, his eyes squinted, half-closed, endlessly traveling to Honolulu.