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"For every time he called me a split-the-difference bien-pensant, and for every time I called him a pseudo–Lord Byron, we seemed to become better friends."

"As for the notion of standing on your own, it’s no longer considered honorable or desirable. It makes you suspect, if not ridiculous. If you haven’t got a community behind you, vouching for you, cheering you on, mobbing your adversaries and slaying them, then who are you?"

This is what I've found myself asking again and again the last few years (to professional writers who shouldn't have to be asked): "if you're not willing to risk unpopularity by telling the truth or offering something new, why the hell are you in the job?"

I told my students that good writing never comes from the display of virtue. But I could see that they were skeptical, as if I were encouraging them deliberately to botch a job interview. They were attracted to subjects about which they’d already made up their minds.

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The Enemies of Writing

A writer who?s afraid to tell people what they don?t want to hear has chosen the wrong trade.