They All Walked Aristotle taught while walking the covered walkways of his Lyceum, pacing back and forth with students who came to be called the Peripatetics, the walkers. Nietzsche claimed that all truly great thoughts are conceived while walking, and he composed much of his philosophy during solitary treks through the Swiss Alps. Darwin installed a gravel path at Down House specifically for daily contemplative circuits, calling it his "thinking path" and crediting it with h

The manuscript sits untouched for three years. Not because you haven't worked on it—you've rewritten the opening paragraph forty-seven times. Each version inches closer to your vision, yet somehow moves further from completion. Meanwhile, your colleague published three imperfect books that changed people's lives. You console yourself that yours will be perfect when it's finally ready. But perfect and ready are mutually exclusive states, and you're beginning to suspect the pri