“The compelling thing about making art — or making anything, I suppose — is the moment when the vaporous, insubstantial idea becomes a solid there, a thing, a substance in a world of substances. Circe, Nimbue, Artemis, Athena, all the old sorceresses: they must have known the feeling as they transformed mere men into fabulous creatures, stole the secrets of the magicians, disposed armies: ah, look, there it is, the new thing. Call it a swine, a war, a laurel tree. Call it art.” MenWorldLooksArtIdeasWarMomentsFeelingsSecretKnownTreeCreaturesArmyMereSubstanceTransformedNew ThingsCompellingFabulousMagicianArtemisLaurelsAthenaSwineSorceress Author:Audrey Niffenegger
“I am living a new and exalted life of late. It steeps me in a sacred rapture to see a portrait develop and take soul under my hand. First, I throw off a study - just a mere study, a few apparently random lines - and to look at it you would hardly ever suspect who it was going to be; even I cannot tell, myself.” FirstsLooksSoulHandsLinesStudyLateSacredMereSuspectsPortraitsExaltedRapturePortraitureSelf PortraitSelf Portrait Photography Book:Mark Twain's works Source: Mark Twain's works
“Criticism is necessary and useful; it is often indispensable; but it can never take the place of action, or be even a poor substitute for it. The function of the mere critic is of very subordinate usefulness. It is the doer of deeds who actually counts in the battle for life, and not the man who looks on and says how the fight ought to be fought, without himself sharing the stress and the danger.” MenLooksActionFightingPoorDangerHe ManOughtBattleCriticismFunctionStressMereCriticsDeedsSubstitutesIndispensableUsefulnessSubordinatesDoers Author:Theodore Roosevelt
“For mere vengeance I would do nothing. This nation is too great to look for mere revenge. But for security of the future I would do every thing.” LooksNationsSecurityMereRevengeVengeance Author:James A. Garfield
“If happiness is a state of the inward life, we have to look for its chief obstructions not in outward conditions but in deeper places. Happiness depends in the last issue, as we saw, on the essential view of life. It is not a matter of distractions, nor even of mere pleasurable sensations. There may be an appearance of great prosperity with incurable sadness hidden at the heart, as there is an outward peace which is only a well-masked despair. The way to happiness is indeed harder than the way to success; for its chief enemies entrench themselves within the soul.” IfsWayWellsLooksHeartMaySoulMatterStatesLastsHappinessViewsEnemyIssuesSawsSadnessConditionsDependsEssentialsDespairHarderMereProsperityAppearanceDeeperChiefsSensationsDistractionInwardObstructionWay To Success Book:Happiness Source: Happiness