be a pro

"I don’t know if I was born with a knack, or a natural interest that led to an ability—the answer to the nature/nurture thing is that it’s both—but I do know that I’ve worked like a coal miner for thirty-odd years and that I sacrificed a very great deal. I had to entirely give up my twenties to be what I started to become in my mid-thirties, when I became a screenwriter, in the sense of open vocation—and that’s basically the same level of commitment as becoming an eye surgeon, with none of the societal understanding that you’re doing something that will pay off. I knew I had something that you could call a 'knack.' But then I worked harder than anybody else I knew, and I risked everything."

- Oscar winner William Monahan (THE DEPARTED)