The writer's only responsibility is to his art. He will be completely ruthless if he is a good one. He has a dream. It anguishes him so much he must get rid of it. He has no peace until then.

我做音乐不是为了名声。我这样做是因为我喜欢它。

我死时唯一的遗憾就是如果不是为了爱而死。

At a restaurant do you order what you know is great， or do you try something new？ Do you make what you know will sell or try something new？ Do you keep dating new folks or try to commit to someone you already met？ The optimal balance for exploring new things vs exploiting them once found is: 1/3. Spend 1/3 of your time on exploring and 2/3 time on deepening. It is harder to devote time to exploring as you age because it seems unproductive， but aim for 1/3.

What is most personal is most universal.

The Langlands program is a vision of how mathematics could be unified in a single framework.

You think you know when you can learn, are more sure when you can write, even more when you can teach, but certain when you can program.