Fine short story writers are unlikely to become great novelists  Short story writers must master the ability to interweave the many small details that together allow mundane incidents to illuminate important truths  Because the novel drowns in such detail, novelists must focus on larger matters
Only a few writers possess both the ability to weave together many small details and the ability to focus on larger matters
Good painters cannot become good scholars of painting. Painters are inevitably biased toward their own style of painting and, accordingly, cannot be objective scholars.