Warren Cole Smith:
“The artist’s life, a helpful college professor once told me, is a vocation, a calling. It should be engaged in to tell the truth about the world, and not just to make money or even to propagate a message. It takes discipline, perseverance, and mastery of the tools of that particular art. Most of all it takes an unsentimental view of what you’ve done and what you’re capable of doing. And it takes the courage to hear the truth about your work. Tough feedback is not a discouragement—it is a gift.”