The artist is extremely lucky who is presented with the worst possible ordeal which will not actually kill him. At that point, he's in business.
Source: Interview in Writers at Work, Fourth Series, ed. by George Plimpton, 1976.
-- John Berryman, (Oct 25 1914-1972), US poet, writer, educator; His is noted for his almost agonizing self-revealing poetry; known especially for his long poem Homage to Mistress Bradstreet, 1956;