The Book of Lost and Found

by Lucy Foley

To truly create, to innovate, you cannot care about the sensibilities you may offend. You cannot mind that some people—your own mother, perhaps—will violently dislike your work.

Find your own style—and you must be brave, because it takes courage to strike out alone. You must not be afraid of ridicule; indeed, you may want to court it. To be able to elicit a strong reaction of any sort is a powerful thing. God forbid that people should tolerate your work.”

The feeling that one has a place in the world, that one is useful in some small way, is not to be underrated.

‘War happens to people, one by one.’ That’s exactly it, you see. Until it happens to you, you have no way of understanding it, let alone imagining it. Until then, it is simply a monster under the bed.