The essential question

This above all—ask yourself in the stillest hour of your night: must I write?

Delve into yourself for a deep answer. And if this should be affirmative, if you may meet this earnest question with a strong and simple, “I must,” then build your life according to this necessity; your life even into its most indifferent and slightest hour must be a sign of this urge and a testimony to it.

~ Rainer Maria Rilke