#we

If the artist does not fling himself, without reflecting, into his work, as Curtis flung himself into the yawning gulf, as the soldier flings himself into the enemy's trenches, and if, once in this crater, he does not work like a miner on whom the walls of his gallery have fallen in; if he contemplates difficulties instead of overcoming them one by one ... he is simply looking on at the suicide of his own talent. ↗

— Honoré de Balzac

#creative-process #determination #devotion #empowerment #energy

Art always penetrates the particular fissures in one's psychic life. ↗

— Stephen Greenblatt

#renaissance #swerve #art

In this age of one-night stands, virtual relationships and text sex, a wedding was a modern miracle. ↗

— Eleanor Prescott

#age

When you view your world exclusively through the lens of science, your prescription will never be strong enough. ↗

— Jay Nichols

#awe #creativity #left-brain #mysticism #quantum-physics

In the final scene of Power, the Supreme Court justices appear as a striking abstraction: Nine scowling masks line up in a row on top of a giant podium. Chief Justice Charles Evans Hughes speaks the majority opinion: 'Water power, the right to convert it into electric energy, and the electric energy thus produced constitute property belonging to the United States. ↗

— Susan Quinn

#ownership #power #property #water #art

We are ending where the savages began. We have found again the lost arts of starving non-combatants, burning hovels, and leading away the vanquished into slavery. Barbarian invasions would be superfluous: we are our own Huns. ↗

— Bertrand De Jouvenel

#power #savagery #art

What we call our destiny is truly our character and that character can be altered. The knowledge that we are responsible for our actions and attitudes does not need to be discouraging, because it also means that we are free to change this destiny. One is not in bondage to the past, which has shaped our feelings, to race, inheritance, background. All this can be altered if we have the courage to examine how it formed us. We can alter the chemistry provided we have the courage to dissect the elements. ↗

— Anaïs Nin

#courage #destiny #empowerment #responsibility #self-control

My son, you've seen the temporary fire and the eternal fire; you have reached the place past which my powers cannot see. I've brought you here through intellect and art; from now on, let your pleasure be your guide; you're past the steep and past the narrow paths. Look at the sun that shines upon your brow; look at the grasses, flowers, and the shrubs born here, spontaneously, of the earth. Among them, you can rest or walk until the coming of the glad and lovely eyes-- those eyes that weeping, sent me to your side. Await no further word or sign from me: your will is free, erect, and whole-- to act against that will would be to err: therefore I crown and miter you over yourself ↗

— Dante Alighieri

#freedom #virgil #weeping #art

My attitude is that if you push me towards something that you think is a weakness, then I will turn that perceived weakness into a strength. ↗

— Michael Jordan

#i #into #me #perceived #push

Jedi act with confidence, move with confidence, and breathe with confidence. Jedi possess a confident calmness in their looks, attitude and behaviour. ↗

— Stephen Richards

#empowerment #jedi #motivational #self-confidence #self-help