This (a quote from my book The Anthropocene Reviewed) was my overall attitude to the world until I was about 24. But it is no longer the way I look at the world.
It turns out that there is pleasure in simply giving what you have, even if--as is generally the case--what you have proves insufficient.
All my books have so many shortcomings. I am constantly running up against the limits of my talents. In other ways, they are good. Whatever is good in them comes from my willingness to go deep and be honest even when it is hard.
When I think of my work, it is hard to think of anything but its insufficiency. And yet, it's valuable to give as much as I can, whenever I can--not to "fulfill my potential" or whatever, but because we are only here for a little while, and there is more meaning in possibly cringe but earnest effort than there is in the cold pleasure of ironic disdain.
