
“A good writer possesses not only his own spirit but also the spirit of his friends.”
Poem I, lines 11-13; translation by Richard H. Green
The Consolation of Philosophy · De Consolatione Philosophiae, Book III
Tu quoque falsa tuens bona prius incipe colla iugo retrahere: Vera dehinc animum subierint.
“A good writer possesses not only his own spirit but also the spirit of his friends.”
p. 219 http://www.gutenberg.org/files/2162/2162-h/2162-h.htm#emancipation
The Tragedy of Woman's Emancipation (1906)
Go Rin No Sho (1645)
Context: Fourthly the Wind book. This book is not concerned with my Ichi school but with other schools of strategy. By Wind I mean old traditions, present-day traditions, and family traditions of strategy. Thus I clearly explain the strategies of the world. This is tradition. It is difficult to know yourself if you do not know others. To all Ways there are side-tracks. If you study a Way daily, and your spirit diverges, you may think you are obeying a good way, but objectively it is not the true Way. If you are following the true Way and diverge a little, this will later become a large divergence. You must realise this. Other strategies have come to be thought of as mere sword-fencing, and it is not unreasonable that this should be so. The benefit of my strategy, although it includes sword-fencing, lies in a separate principle. I have explained what is commonly meant by strategy in other schools in the Wind book.
Google shows that the internet often attributes this statement to Einstein, but never with a source. It does not occur in any book in Google Books.
Misattributed
“The good stars met in your horoscope,
Made you of spirit and fire and dew.”
“Almost all good writing begins with terrible first efforts. You need to start somewhere.”
Source: Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life
“The confession of evil works is the first beginning of good works.”
Tractates on the Gospel of John; tractate XII on John 3:6-21, § 13 https://web.archive.org/web/*/http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/1701012.htm