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About this quote

What does it mean?
The author attributes his career choice to his unsuitability for normal social interactions.
In plain terms
I wasn't good at being with people, so I became a writer instead.
What can you take from it?
Personal limitations can often be redirected into creative strengths.

Where it applies

  • career decisions
  • overcoming shyness
  • choosing a path

Putting it to work

  • turn isolation into art
  • find your niche
  • accept your nature

Questions to consider

  • How did your weaknesses shape you?
  • What defines your career choice?

Another view

Attributing career success to social failure ignores other factors.

More from Brian Aldiss

  1. Whatever creativity is, it is in part a solution to a problem.

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  2. Digging deep in a Martian desert men discovered an enormous brain. It suddenly started to think at them - So they covered it up again...

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  3. Writers must fortify themselves with pride and egotism as best they can. The process is analogous to using sandbags and loose timbers to protect a house agains…

    Permalink to quote #9

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