Craft is the handprint of all culture.

-Anonymous
  On exhibit of metal and ceramic work displayed at the White House. In Sunday Morning, CBS  T V, 30  Apr.

Between craft and credulity, the voice of reason is stifled.

-Burke, Edmund
  Letter to the Sheriffs of Bristol.

That lyf so short, the craft so long to lerne, Th'assay so hard, so sharp the conquerynge.

-Chaucer, Geoffrey
c.1380  The Parliament of Fowls, l.1^2.

Some weigh their pleasure by their lust, Their wisdom by their rage of will, Their treasure is their only trust; And cloake'  d craft their store of skill. But all the pleasure that I find Is to maintain a quiet mind.

-Dyer, Sir Edward
  'In Praise of a Contented Mind'.

   Ars longa vita brevis. The craft so long [to learn], the life so short.

-Hippocrates   c.460
Quoted in Seneca Debrevitate vitae,1. The original was in Greek.

I thought that writing a detective story would be a wonderful apprenticeship because, whatever people tell you, a crime novel is not easy to write well. As I continued with my craft I became increasingly fascinated by the form and realized that you can use the formula to say something true about men and women and the society in which they live.

-Baroness
  'Series Detectives', collected in Brown and Munro (eds) Writers Writing (1993).

Wisdom without honesty is mere craft and cozenage. And therefore the reputation for honesty must first be gotten; which cannot be but by living well. A good life is a main argument.

-Jonson, Ben
Timber: or Discoveries made upon Men and Matter (published 1640).

'Counseilleth me, Kynde,'quod I,'what craft be best to lerne?' 'Lerne to love,'quod kynde,'and leef alle othere.'

-Langland,William
c.1378  Piers Plowman (B text),'Passus 20', l.207^8.

   Most peoplewon't realizethat writing isa craft.You have to take your apprenticeship in it like anything else.

-Porter, Katherine Anne
  In the Saturday Review, 31 Mar.