Those who claim that they value process over result

"However, those who claim that they value process over result are not telling the whole truth, assuming of course that they are members of the human species. We often hear the semi-lie that writers do not write for glory, that artists create for the sake of art , because the activity is “its own reward. ” True, these activities can generate a steady flow of auto satisfaction. But this does not mean that artists do not crave some form of attention, or that they would not be better off if they got some publicity; it does not mean that writers do not wake up early Saturday morning to check if The New York Times Book Review has featured their work , even if it is a very long shot , or that they do not keep checking their mailbox for that long-awaited reply from The New Yorker. Even a philosopher the caliber of Hume spent a few weeks sick in bed after the trashing of his masterpiece (what later became known as his version of the Black Swan problem) by some dim-thinking reviewer—whom he knew to be wrong and to have missed his whole point .

Where it gets painful is when you see one of your peers, whom you despise, heading to Stockholm for his Nobel reception."