Jessica Crabtree

“If I could say it in words there would be no reason to paint.” (Edward Hopper)

If you hear a voice within you say “you cannot paint,” then by all means paint, and that voice will be silenced.
(Vincent van Gogh)

“We know you highly esteem the kind of learning taught in these colleges. And the maintenance of our young men, while with you, would very expensive to you. We’re convinced, therefore, that you mean to do us good by your proposal, and we thank you heartily. But you who are so wise must know that different nations have different conceptions of things. And you will not, therefore, take it amiss if our ideas of this kind of education happens not to be the same with yours.

We have had some experience of it. Several of our young people were formerly brought up in the colleges of the northern province. They were instructed in all your sciences. But when they came back to us, they were bad runners, ignorant of every means of living in the woods, unable to bear either cold or hunger, knew neither how to build a cabin, take a deer, or kill an enemy, spoke our language imperfectly, and therefore were neither fit for hunters, warriors, nor councilors. They were totally good for nothing.

We are, however, not the less obliged for your kind offer, though we decline accepting. To show our grateful sense of it, if the gentlemen of Virginia shall send us a dozen of their sons, we would take great care in their education, instruct them in all we know, and make men of them.”

- Chief Canassatego, Onondaga speaker & diplomat (1744)

From American Rhetoric: Online Speech Bank

“One ought, every day at least, to hear a little song, read a good poem, see a fine picture, and, if it were possible, to speak a few reasonable words.” (Goethe)

“Trifles make perfection, and perfection is no trifle.” (Michelangelo)

“So live your life that the fear of death can never enter your heart. Trouble no one about their religion; respect others in their view, and demand that they respect yours. Love your life, perfect your life, beautify all things in your life. Seek to make your life long and its purpose in the service of your people. Prepare a noble death song for the day when you go over the great divide.

Always give a word or a sign of salute when meeting or passing a friend, even a stranger, when in a lonely place. Show respect to all people and grovel to none. When you arise in the morning give thanks for the food and for the joy of living. If you see no reason for giving thanks, the fault lies only in yourself. Abuse no one and no thing, for abuse turns the wise ones to fools and robs the spirit of its vision. When it comes your time to die, be not like those whose hearts are filled with the fear of death, so that when their time comes they weep and pray for a little more time to live their lives over again in a different way. Sing your death song and die like a hero going home.”

- Speech attributed to Tecumseh (d. 1813)

Click the ‘Tecumseh’ tag below for more on this outstanding Native American leader.

(Although no original portraits of Tecumseh have survived, several works dating to the late 1800s lay claim to authenticity. This drawing is believed to be the most likely representation. It is a copy of a portrait sketch made by Pierre Le Dru in 1808, during Tecumseh’s lifetime. Many years later it was widely circulated in a colorized version.)

“Let the beauty of what you love be what you do.” (Rumi)

“Abstract Art: A product of the untalented, sold by the unprincipled to the utterly bewildered.” (Albert Camus)