Don't be the man in the center
Author Kenzaburo Oe: "From the periphery, we can write the story of the human being and this story can express the humanity of the center."
Don’t be the man in the center. Write from the periphery. Writer Kenzaburo Oe interviewed by Harry Kreisler:
I am a writer of the periphery…With pride I say this. Literature must be written from the periphery toward the center, and we can criticize the center. Our credo, our theme, or our imagination is that of the peripheral human being. The man who is in the center does not have anything to write. From the periphery, we can write the story of the human being and this story can express the humanity of the center, so when I say the word periphery, this is a most important creed of mine.
Speaking of thinking you’re the center of the world, this “How New Yorkers See The World” map created by Saul Steinberg for the The New Yorker is a classic.