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

The trick to playing second fiddle is to play it like second Stradivarius. – Robert Brault, rbrault.blogspot.com

Though the barriers of life seem formidable, we find when we challenge them that they have no will. – Robert Brault, rbrault.blogspot.com

There are no easy methods of learning difficult things; the method is to close your door, give out that you are not at home, and work. – Joseph de Maistre