“School is one thing. Education is another. The two don’t always overlap. Whether you’re in school or not, it’s always your job to get yourself an education.”

Austin Kleon, Steal Like an Artist

“The point of being an artist is to make your own art, art that speaks about the things you want to say in the way you want them said. Any business decisions that lead you away from this are the wrong ones.”

Cay Lang, Taking the Leap: Building a Career as a Visual Artist

“Talent may get someone off the starting blocks faster, but without a sense of direction or a goal to strive for, it won’t count for much.”

Art & Fear by David Bayles and Ted Orland

“To those who need encouragement, remember this: Dr. Seuss’s first children’s book was rejected by twenty-three publishers. The twenty-fourth publisher sold six million copies.”

Ann Landers

“There is no failure except in no longer trying.”

Elbert Hubbard

“Three wrongs may not make a right, but three left turns do.”

Cay Lang, Taking the Leap: Building a Career as a Visual Artist

“You cannot find what you do not seek. You cannot grasp when you do not reach. Your dreams won’t come up to your front door. You have got to take a leap if you want to soar.”

Cory Booker

“The artist is a collector. Not a hoarder, mind you, there’s a difference: Hoarders collect indiscriminately, artists collect selectively. They only collect things that they really love….You’re only going to be as good as the stuff you surround yourself with.”

Austin Kleon, Steal Like an Artist

“The artist never entirely knows. We guess. We may be wrong, but take leap after leap in the dark.”

Agnes de Mille

“Alchemy…is an encounter with the substances in the world around us, an encounter that is not veiled by science…alchemy is the best and most eloquent way to understand how paint can mean….”

James Elkins, What Painting Is