I can't live where I want to, I can't go where I want to go, I can't do what I want to, I can't even say what I want to. I decided I was a very stupid fool not to at least paint as I wanted to.
Georgia O'KeeffeRead
It's not enough to be nice in life. You've got to have nerve.
Interpretation
Being kind is important, but courage and assertiveness are also essential in life.
Georgia O'Keeffe's quote emphasizes that while being nice is a valuable trait, it is not sufficient on its own for success or fulfillment in life. The ability to take risks, stand up for oneself, and demonstrate bravery is crucial. This suggests that while kindness is admirable, it must be complemented by the courage to act decisively and boldly in various situations.
In practice
In a motivational speech about personal growth, one might reference this quote to encourage people to act boldly.
I can't live where I want to, I can't go where I want to go, I can't do what I want to, I can't even say what I want to. I decided I was a very stupid fool not to at least paint as I wanted to.
I found I could say things with color and shapes that I couldn't say any other way - things I had no words for.
You are one of my nicest thoughts.
It was in the 1920s, when nobody had time to reflect, that I saw a still-life painting with a flower that was perfectly exquisite, but so small you really could not appreciate it.
Singing has always seemed to me the most perfect means of expression.
Objective painting is not good painting unless it is good in the abstract sense. A hill or tree cannot make a good painting just because it is a hill or tree. It is lines and colors put together so that they may say something.
If others hurt you, let the injury go. This is your test. If you let it go, you will find serenity.
How carefully would I atone, if I might, for the time I have lost!
The greatest minds, as they are capable of the highest excellencies, are open likewise to the greatest aberrations; and those who travel very slowly may yet make far greater progress, provided they keep always to the straight road, than those who, while they run, forsake it.
There are persons whom in my heart I despise, others I abhor. Yet I am not obliged to inform the one of my contempt, nor the other of my detestation. This kind of dissimulation...is a necessary branch of wisdom, and so far from being immoral...that it is a duty and a virtue.
The farther backward you can look, the farther forward you can see.
No one is more miserable than the person who wills everything and can do nothing.
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