You have never tasted freedom, friend, or you would know it is purchased not with gold, but steel.

The highest treason a crab can commit is to make a leap for the rim of the bucket.

The artist cannot look to others to validate his efforts or his calling. If you don't believe me, ask Van Gogh, who produced masterpiece after masterpiece and never found a buyer in his whole life.

Don't cheat the world of your contribution. Give it what you've got.

Don't prepare, do. Don't let Resistance sucker you into wasting months on background, foundation, planning. All that can come later.

It is a commonplace among artists and children at play that they're not aware of time or solitude while they're chasing their vision. The hours fly. The sculptress and the tree-climbing tyke both look up blinking when Mom calls, 'Suppertime!'

We show up. We do our best. Good things happen.