“Is it important to be right or is it important to do what’s right? That’s one of the hardest lessons to learn.”

On the importance of naming in “INTERVIEW WITH DANEZ SMITH” http://www.thewhitereview.org/feature/interview-danez-smith/ in The White Review (June 2018)

Source: Live and Learn and Pass It On, Volume II: People Ages 5 to 95 Share What They've Discovered About Life, Love, and Other Good Stuff

Think Like an Artist (2015)

Cinema.com interview (2001)
Context: The most important lesson I've learned in this business is how to say no. I have said no to a lot of temptations, and I am glad I did.

Rejection never feels good, but as artists I think we tend to take rejection so personally. It can cause us to doubt our work or talent. However, rejection isn’t always someone saying we don’t like your work or you’re not talented. Sometimes it’s someone else recognizing that they can’t give you what you need to fly. It’s a venue saying this is not quite the right fit for you right now. That doesn’t mean that you won’t find home for your work. That doesn’t mean that venue won’t come looking for you one day. It means you have to keep working hard until you find the perfect fit and when the time is right it will work itself out.
On learning to take rejection in “Q&A Session with Award-Winning Author, Sheri Booker” https://www.huffpost.com/entry/interview-with-award-winning-author-sheri-booker_b_5684760 in HuffPost (2014 Aug 19)

As quoted in The Forbes Book of Business Quotations (2007) edited by Ted Goodman, p. 175

Source: Reflections

Variant: …it’s not just learning that’s important. It’s learning what to do with what you learn and learning why you learn things that matters.