This Definitely Resonates: Georgia O’Keeffe On Artistic Integrity, Longevity, & Form
“You and I don’t know whether our vision is clear in relation to our time or not—No matter what failure or success we may have—we will not know—But we can keep our integrity—according to our own sense of balance with the world and that creates our form … I want to create my own [form] and I can’t do anything else—if I stop to think of what others—authorities or the public—or anyone—would say of my form I’d not be able to do anything.
I can never show what I am working on without being stopped—whether it is liked or disliked I am affected in the same way—sort of paralyzed—”
~ Georgia O’Keeffe, 1887 – 1986: from letters to writer Sherwood Anderson
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This quote resonates with my own personal experience that “the book that can be spoken of is not the book”—until it’s done.
It also tallies with my own conviction that whether artists or writers we can never know whether our creative work will endure or not, we can only strive to be true to the Muse and produce the very best work we are capable of.
* I discovered this quote via Maria Popova and the wonderful Brain Pickings site
What a fantastic quote. I think that you can show others once the work is in the editing/polishing form. I think being too concerned with others early on can hinder the work.
I pretty much agree with all of that. 🙂