Life & Wisdom Quote by Nicholas Meyer

The line is a quiet rebuke to the romantic myth that great art is lightning: sudden, unearned, and purely “inspired.” Meyer, a working writer with one foot in Hollywood pragmatism, treats creativity less like a visitation and more like a craft discipline. “Doesn’t just happen by accident” isn’t anti-magic so much as anti-alibi. It denies artists the comforting story that the work failed because the muse didn’t show up. If it didn’t land, you didn’t build it.

The phrase “pulling out new tricks” is doing extra work. It frames artistry as repertoire: a bag you keep adding to through study, imitation, and risk. “Tricks” can sound cheap, like gimmicks, but Meyer reclaims the word the way a seasoned storyteller might: technique is not the enemy of sincerity; it’s the delivery system for it. The subtext is almost professional: your job is to expand your toolkit, not to repeat your signature move until it calcifies into brand.

“Trying new things” adds the ethical dimension. This isn’t just about novelty for novelty’s sake; it’s about voluntary discomfort. The sentence implies a ladder: tricks are learned, then tested, then revised under pressure. Contextually, that reads like advice forged in production realities where deadlines, audience expectations, and studio notes punish preciousness. Meyer’s intent is to move the conversation from inspiration to iteration: art is the result of deliberate choices, and the only reliable way to stay alive as an artist is to keep changing the engine while the car is moving.