“Thus it is that ideas, which grow up within the imagination and appear so lovely to it and of a value beyond whatever men call valuable, are exposed to be shattered and annihilated by contact with the practical. It is requisite for the ideal artist to possess a force of character that seems hardly compatible with its delicacy; he must keep his faith in himself while the incredulous world assails him with its utter disbelief; he must stand up against mankind and be his own sole disciple, both as respects his genius and the objects to which it is directed.”

— Nathaniel Hawthorne

"The Artist of the Beautiful" (1844)

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Nathaniel Hawthorne 128

American novelist and short story writer (1804 – 1879) 1804–1864

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