Those essays (especially the ones written after Viaweb and before YC) can be inspiring if you're stuck in a cube at Big Company, Inc. and neither your managers nor your fellow programmers are interested in doing anything else with their lives.
My thoughts exactly. I first encountered PG's essays at a time when I really needed his brand of encouragement. They persuaded me that I wasn't 100% crazy to think I could start a company. Still haven't switched to Lisp though. =)