I don't think you can ever assess your work. I don't think Turgenev could assess his any more than I can assess mine, and his didn't have a social impact as much as great literary impact.
Virginia Woolf said that writers must be androgynous. I'll go a step further. You must be bisexual.
I've met many irresponsible people in my life but never an irresponsible cat.
Morals are private. Decency is public.
A life of reaction is a life of slavery, intellectually and spiritually. One must fight for a life of action, not reaction.
Lead me not into temptation; I can find the way myself.