Time & hindsight

What advice would you give your twenty-year-old self, and what should they ignore?

79 answers answered between 1930 and 2026

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Wole Soyinka Playwright, poet and novelist; Nobel laureate in Literature, 1986
I just say, “Follow your instincts.” Don’t feel you have to follow the paths of others, because you may not be temperamentally fitted for it. And so you’ll just harm yourself and your cause and others. But just follow your instinct, and don’t ever pretend to be what you’re not.
Recorded Academy of Achievement interview, 3 July 2009 source ↗
Annie Proulx Novelist and short-story writer
Write slowly and by hand only about subjects that interest you. […] Develop craftsmanship through years of wide reading.
Recorded The Guardian Review, 20 February 2010 source ↗
Werner Herzog Film director, screenwriter and opera director
No. Go for it, as I did it. Go for all the mistakes. I made so many mistakes in doing my films. They all have a stutter or a limp or they are squint-eyed. Hardly anyone notices it, but I notice. Make your mistakes. Get arrested if you trespass. Yes. Do it. There’s nothing wrong with spending a night or two in jail. I’ve done that. Don’t be afraid of the grizzly bear behind you. Travel on foot. Read books.
Recorded Rolling Stone, Rolling Stone, 'The Last Word' interview, 1 January 2020 source ↗

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