i'd just sent him a v upset email about how badly it's going and how i feel pressured by his expectation and not wanting to disgrace him, and he sent me this quote from Paradise Lost.
Nohrnberg is so nice:
....take heed lest Passion sway
Thy Judgement, ...
The weal or woe in thee is plac't; ...
I in thy persevering shall rejoice,
And all the Blest:
--Par. Lost VIII, 635-640, Raphael telling Adam to 'stand fast'
it is really comforting. i shall persevere.