Art

We touched upon the powerful word art in the first edition of our dictionary of magic words, but we recently dug up this truly marvelous testament:

Art! If I had not that magic word before me in the distance I should have died already. But for Art one has need of no one; we depend entirely upon ourselves, and if we fail, it is because there was nothing in us, and that we ought to live no longer. Art! I picture it to myself like a great light shining before me in the distance, and I forget everything else but this, and I shall press forward to the goal, my eyes fixed upon this light.
—Marie Bashkirtseff, The Journal of a Young Artist (1889)

This tribute to art stands as one of our all-time favorites.