George Lucas

by Brian Jay Jones

“Work smarter, not harder,” was Scrooge’s motto, and his stories were full of inventive schemes that, more often than not, made him even richer and more successful. In Scrooge’s world, hard work paid off, yes — but so did cleverness and a desire to do something in a way no one had ever thought of before.

Scrooge’s ethic reflected those of writer-artist Carl Barks, who hailed “honor, honesty, [and] allowing other people to believe in their own ideas, not trying to force everyone into one form.

Think differently, believe in yourself, and when you can, invest in yourself. But pay your debts.

“I realized more than anything else what a thin thread we hang on in life,” Lucas said, “and I really wanted to make something out of my life.”

“I’d be working all day, all night, living on chocolate bars and coffee,” said Lucas. “It was a great life.”

The success of the imaginary, it’s to make something totally fabricated seem real

“Intimate that a rewarding, good life is within one’s reach despite adversity,” Lucas jotted in his notes, “but only if one does not shy away from the hazardous struggles without which one can never achieve true identity.”