George Orwell. Why I write (№ 256794)

The great mass of human beings, in General, not proud. After about thirty years they lose their personal ambitions (and often almost completely losing the sense of individuality), and live primarily for others, or slowly suffocate from the tedious work. But among them there is always the minority of gifted, stubborn people who are determined to live their own lives to the end, and writers belong to this type. I would say that the serious writers on the whole more vain and self-centered than journalists, though less interested in money.