Inward fire

"Well, what shall I say; our inward thoughts, do they show outwardly? There may be a great fire in our soul, but no one ever comes to warm himself by it, all the passers-by see only a little bit of smoke coming through the chimney, and pass on their way. Now, look here, what must be done, must one tend that inward fire, have salt in oneself, wait patiently yet with how much impatience for the hour when somebody will come and sit down near it, to stay there maybe?"

"There are moments when one feels emptiness and terrible discouragement, but after everything seemed to go wrong, there will perhaps come a time when things go right. I do not count on it, perhaps it will never happen, but if there should come a change for the better,  I woul consider it as a gain, I should rejoice, I would say: at last! So there was something after all!"

"On the path I have taken now, I must keep going. If I don't do anything, if I do not study, if I do not go on seeking any longer, then I am lost. The woe is me. That is how I look at it; to continue, that is what is necessary. But what is your definite aim? That aim becomes more definite, will stand out slowly and surely, just as the rough draught becomes a sketch, and a sketch becomes a picture, little by little, by working seriously on it, by pondering over the idea, vague at first, over the thought that was fleeting and passing, till it gets fixed."

"I need not overhurry myself, there is no good in that, but I must work on in full calmness and serenity, as regularly and concentratedly as possible, as concisely and economically as possible."

-Vincent Van Gogh from his 'Letters to Theo'-