Life & Wisdom Quote by Augusten Burroughs

Burroughs isn’t dispensing a cute motivational poster here; he’s naming the brutal economics of making art for a living. “Luxury” is the barb. He frames discouragement not as a natural feeling (it is) but as a privilege a working writer can’t afford. That word quietly relocates rejection from the realm of personal injury to the realm of logistics: if you stop, you’re not protecting your soul, you’re forfeiting the job.

The quote’s power is its unsentimental clarity about gatekeeping. By specifying “agents or publishers,” Burroughs points to the two bouncers at the club door, reminding you rejection is often procedural rather than prophetic. It’s not necessarily a verdict on talent; it’s a mismatch of timing, market appetite, branding anxieties, list politics, and a thousand other variables no one puts in a form letter. The subtext: you’re going to be misread, dismissed, or ignored by people whose incentives aren’t aligned with your best work.

“Absolutely must” and “plow forward” land like a coping mechanism turned ethos. Plowing is stubborn, unglamorous labor; it implies resistance, friction, and repetition. That’s a pointed corrective to the romantic myth that writing is primarily inspiration. Burroughs, a writer whose career sits close to memoir’s raw exposure, also sneaks in a psychological survival tip: detach persistence from self-esteem. Keep going not because you feel confident, but because stopping lets rejection become identity.