Take your work seriously, but never yourself.
Margot FonteynRead
Genius is another word for magic, and the whole point of magic is that it is inexplicable.
Interpretation
Genius often appears to be magical due to its mysterious and inexplicable nature.
This quote suggests that genius can seem like a form of magic because it operates beyond the realm of ordinary understanding. It emphasizes that the exceptional creativity and insights of a genius are difficult to explain, much like the mystique of magic that captivates and astonishes us.
In practice
In a discussion about the nature of creativity during a lecture.
Take your work seriously, but never yourself.
The one important thing I have learned over the years is the difference between taking one's work seriously and taking one's self seriously. The first is imperative and the second is disastrous.
Life forms illogical patterns. It is haphazard and full of beauties which I try to catch as they fly by, for who knows whether any of them will ever return?
Dancers are both athletes and artists.
The essential thing about mothers is that one needs to know that they are there, particularly at that age when, paradoxically, one is trying so hard to break away from parental influence.
When the soldiers stand leaning on their spears, they are faint from want of food.
When we get too caught up in the busyness of the world, we lose connection with one another - and ourselves.
If there is a single definition of healing it is to enter with mercy and awareness those pains, mental and physical, from which we have withdrawn in judgment and dismay. (48)
It is better to sit alone than in company with the bad, and it is better still to sit with the good than alone. It is better to speak to a seeker of knowledge than to remain silent, but silence is better than idle words.
This is a wise, sane Christian faith: that a man commit himself, his life, and his hopes to God; that God undertakes the special protection of that man; that therefore that man ought not to be afraid of anything.
The promises of this world are, for the most part, vain phantoms; and to confide in one's self, and become something of worth and value is the best and safest course.
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