Why Not Greatness?

I’m reading the autobiography that Norman Rockwell dictated to his son. Here is one of the passages that I highlighted regarding the effort required for greatness:

    I wanted to be a great illustrator. I was so dedicated and solemn that the other students called me “The Deacon.” The lunchroom crowd, students who wore beards and soft wide-brimmed hats and chatted about art all day long over cups of coffee in the lunchroom, regarded me with a mixture of scorn and awe. One of them said to me once, “You know, if I worked as hard as you do I could be as good as Velasquez.” I just asked, “Why don’t you?”

2 Responses to “Why Not Greatness?” »»

  1. Comment by Brian | 07/03/08 at 9:13 pm

    I don’t really know what to add, so I’ll share the first thought that came to mind: Wow.

  2. Comment by learn how to draw | 07/15/08 at 10:39 am

    oddly enough we get alot of people similar to the coffee drinker in this article. They come into our art school fresh with a degree from college in the arts and want a teaching job. when they fail miserably to meet our standards and after they find out out the work required to meet our standards they turn pale. It makes you wonder what they did in college with all that 4 years of time.

    Needless to say most of our art instructors are doers and not college grads.

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