It is the job of the writer to see the world from all angles, to shape it in his or her mind, and then both translate and illuminate it to all their readers. Here, what some of the world’s great writers have learned from this pursuit.

“I believe in work. If somebody doesn’t create something, however small it may be, he gets sick. An awful lot of people feel that they’re treading water — that if they vanished in smoke, it wouldn’t mean anything at all in this world. And that’s a despairing and destructive feeling. It’ll kill you.” — Arthur Miller

“I don’t think we’re becoming machines — even machines of loving kindness.” — Robert Hass

“I studied history at Cambridge — not literature. One of the great lessons I was taught there was that the question ‘What if?’ is uninteresting. What matters is the answer to ‘What is?’ To speculate ‘Suppose Hitler won World War II’ is uninteresting because he didn’t. The interesting thing is to work out why he didn’t and what are the consequences of his not having won it. For a writer, that’s a good thing to take away. Ask, What is the case? What is so? Believe me, those questions are not so easily answered — because people disagree on even the simplest description of an event in an age when one man’s hero is another man’s terrorist.” — Salman Rushdie

“Don’t be surprised at anything untoward that you come across.” — Elmore Leonard

“Respect involves accepting people for what they are without revising or marginalizing or objectifying them — or even elevating them.” — James Lee Burke

“I don’t see any evidence of wisdom accelerating as you get older. Old people will say it does, but they’re generally speaking full of shit.” — Jim Harrison

“As the Greeks sensibly believed, should you get to know yourself, you will have penetrated as much of the human mystery as anyone need ever know.” — Gore Vidal

For more wisdom and life lessons from world leaders, cultural icons, and athletes, head to Esquire.com.