Lang or ye cut Balkland wood with a pen knife. – Scottish proverb, said when people work with improper tools, c.1500s

Ultimately, literature is nothing but carpentry…. Both are very hard work. Writing something is almost as hard as making a table. With both you are working with reality, a material just as hard as wood. Both are full of tricks and techniques. Basically very little magic and a lot of hard work… – Gabriel Garcia Marquez, interview, The Paris Review, 1981

Split your own wood, and it will warm you twice. – Old New England Saying

Woodworking is a most satisfying pastime, so varied and multifaceted you will never complete the twin processes you have undertaken: acquiring tools and learning how to use them. You have begun a lifetime pursuit. – Michael Dunbar, “Essential Tools”