A cavalryman’s horse should be smarter than he is. But the horse must never be alowed to know this.
Are you paralyzed with fear? That’s a good sign. Fear is good. Like self-doubt, fear is an indicator. Fear tells us what we have to do. Remember one rule of thumb: the more scared we are of a work or calling, the more sure we can be that we have to do it.
The opposite of love isn’t hate; it’s indifference.
Someone once asked Somerset Maughham if he wrote on a schedule or only when struck by inspiration. “I write only when inspiration strikes,” he replied. “Fortunately it strikes every morning at nine o’clock sharp.
The drawing is also a reminder that there’s an artist within each of us, and we must encourage that artist to do the work, to make something that matters, regardless of anything else that is going on.
The artist must be like that Marine. He has to know how to be miserable. He has to love being miserable.
The working artist will not tolerate trouble in her life because she knows trouble prevents her from doing her work.
Like us, those vanished warriors planted their standards in the sands of their own self-summoned extinction.
Once we commit to action, the worst thing we can do is to stop.