John F. Kennedy Quotes

There is no way to success in art but to take off your coat, grind paint, and work like a digger on the railroad, all day and every day.

As for work, without it, without painstaking work, any writer or artist definitely remains a dilettante; there's no point in waiting for so-called blissful moments, for inspiration; if it comes, so much the better--but you keep working anyway.

I work as diligently on my canvases as the laborers do in their fields.

To create a work of art, great or small, is work, hard work, and work requires discipline and order.

People err who think my art comes easily to me. I assure you, dear friend, nobody has devoted so much time and thought to compositions as I. There is not a famous master whose music I have not industriously studied through many times.

If I'm painting, I paint every day. I'll be up in the studio from 8:00 in the morning to 8:00 at night.

Creativity itself doesn't care at all about results - the only thing it craves is the process. Learn to love the process and let whatever happens next happen, without fussing too much about it. Work like a monk, or a mule, or some other representative metaphor for diligence. Love the work. Destiny will do what it wants with you, regardless.

When Ando arrives in the studio, he picks up his pen even before he gets a cup of tea, and he stays seated until the very last train at night. He hardly eats, just nibbles at little balls of rice at his desk.

The fools who write articles about me think that one morning I suddenly decided to write and began to produce masterpieces. There is no special trick about writing, or painting either. I wrote constantly for 15 years before I produced anything with any solidity to it.

There is a great deal that either has to be given up or be taken away from you if you are going to succeed in writing a body of work.

I have never heard a dancer asking for advice about how to stay focused on her footwork, or a painter complaining about the dull day-to-day task of painting. What task worth doing isn't worth daily effort? Do you think Michelangelo was having fun the whole time he was on his back painting the Sistine Chapel's ceiling?

I was in acting classes from the age of 9, dance classes, music classes - my mom put a lot of energy and attention into me, so no matter what happened in my life, I always had this basis of discipline. So I really worked hard for everything I had from a very early age.

People who aren't artists often feel that artists are inspired. But if you work at your art you don't have time to be inspired.

An artist's working life is marked by intensive application and intense discipline.

Don't wait for inspiration. It comes while one is working.

Art is rare and sacred and hard work, and there ought to be a wall of fire around it.

By and large I think art is made by people who have discipline married to talent in sufficiently large amounts to work even if they don't feel like it. Anybody can get maudlin and decide to write poetry at 11 at night; the question is, can you do it at 8:30 on a Monday morning..?

This beginning with Audacity, or being thrown into the middle of it, is already a very great part of the art of painting.

Those who have attained things worth having in this world have worked while others idled, have persevered while others gave up in despair, have practiced ...the valuable habits of self-denial, industry, and singleness of purpose.

There are many people who can do big things, but there are very few people who will do the small things.

But let's speak of art for a moment. Yes, art. I know a gentleman who makes excellent portraits. This gentleman is a camera.

I think that very often younger writers don't appreciate how much hard work is involved in writing. The part of writing that's magic is the thinnest rind on the world of creation. Most of a writer's life is just work. It happens to be a kind of work that the writer finds fulfilling in the same way that a watchmaker can happily spend countless hours fiddling over the tiny cogs and bits of wire. ... I think the people who end up being writers are people who don't get bored doing that kind of tight focus in small areas.

Writing a novel is like building a wall brick by brick; only amateurs believe in inspiration.

The real payoff is the writing itself, that a day when you have gotten your work done is a good day, that total dedication is the point.