The artist is nothing without the gift, but the gift is nothing without work. – Emile Zola
The fate of animals is of greater importance to me than the fear of appearing ridiculous it is indissolubly connected with the fate of men. – Emile Zola
If you ask me what I came into this life to do, I will tell you: I came to live out loud. – Emile Zola
Do not waste a minute, not a second, in trying to demonstrate to others the merit of your own performance. If your work does not vindicate itself, you cannot vindicate it, but you can labor steadily on to something which needs no advocate but itself. – Thomas Wentworth Higginson, “Letter to a Young Contributor,” The Atlantic Monthl