A sharpshooter of the vanguard
Vincent van Gogh to Anthon van Rappard, from The Hague, c. 8 May 1883
By all means economize your strength in this sense, that you do not expend your energy on things that do not lead you straight to your goal.
. . . It is wasting gunpowder and bullets on something that may very well be worth a shot fired by someone who has a well-filled cartridge box and can fill it again when it's empty - but, my dear friend, not a cartridge fired by a sharpshooter of the vanguard on whose alertness important things may depend, and whose position has laid a greater responsibility on his shoulders than on those of others.
What is permitted to others may be reprehensible in you, the better being in this case the enemy of the good. Ergo, beware of the better.
Letter R34
Translation courtesy of Robert Harrison.
Back to The Way of Vincent: Making art no matter what
By all means economize your strength in this sense, that you do not expend your energy on things that do not lead you straight to your goal.
. . . It is wasting gunpowder and bullets on something that may very well be worth a shot fired by someone who has a well-filled cartridge box and can fill it again when it's empty - but, my dear friend, not a cartridge fired by a sharpshooter of the vanguard on whose alertness important things may depend, and whose position has laid a greater responsibility on his shoulders than on those of others.
What is permitted to others may be reprehensible in you, the better being in this case the enemy of the good. Ergo, beware of the better.
Letter R34
Translation courtesy of Robert Harrison.
Back to The Way of Vincent: Making art no matter what
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