Duty versus Art-making, another Barbara Ueland quote

I have been thinking a lot about Barbara Ueland recently, dipping into her book If You Want to Write: A Book about Art, Independence and Spirit. It was given to me by my high school art teacher, Ardis Macaulay, many years ago. This particular quote is a pretty good argument for the Arts in Healthcare crowd to use!“We have come to think that duty should come first. I disagree. Duty should be a by-product. Writing, the creative effort, the use of the imagination, should come first – at least, for some part of every day of your life. It is a wonderful blessing if you use it. You will become happier, more enlightened, alive, impassioned, light-hearted and generous to everybody else. Even your health will improve. Colds will disappear and all the other ailments of discouragement and boredom.”
Brenda Ueland,If You Want to Write: A Book about Art, Independence and Spirit

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