I got to a 1900 bullet rating in two years, playing an average of 10 to 30 games a day--while not learning any theory! (I wanted to discover theories on my own).
And that's when I realized nah, it's not worth it.
That's a great quote, thanks for sharing.
Murphy was in general so dismissive of his own talent. Granted, he lived in the era before people played chess for a living.