“Fiction is made of life/ Of earth and clay/ Of tears and laughter/ Of blood and sweat/ Hear them, the works of an author or a painter/ The singer and the clown/ Preserve the mystery of life.”

“I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat.”

“Achievement is made of sweat and tears, so every single day you need to put in the work, and work as hard as you can!”

“Poetry is written with tears, fiction with blood, and history with invisible ink.”

“Your face is marked with lines of life, put there by love and laughter, suffering and tears. It's beautiful.”

“It feels great to not be standing behind a bunch of men, but to actually be standing in front of it as women with something that we made, something that we’re proud of and something that we put our blood, sweat and tears into.”

“One can't make pure clay of time's mud. There is no life that can be recaptured wholly; as it was. Which is to say that all biography is ultimately fiction.”

“True life lies in laughter, love and work.”

“Fiction that adds up, that suggests a "logical consistency," or an explanation of some kind, is surely second-rate fiction; for the truth of life is its mystery.”

“There comes a point when you have to realize that the sum of all your blood, sweat, and tears will ultimately amount to zero.”