The work never matches the dream of perfection the artist has to start with.

- William Faulkner

The artist must bow to the monster of his own imagination.

– Richard Wright

I think that sometimes the beauty in art is not in the image itself, but in the delayed reaction of the viewer. It is beautiful if it inspires deep emotions in the viewer, including disdain. And partly, too, the beauty is in the courage of the artist—the willingness to explore his or her inner world.

-Rod MacIver

"Every artist dips his brush in his own soul, and paints his own nature." 

- Henry Ward Beecher