Winston S. Churchill

Churchill, Age 26

"Success is stumbling from failure to failure with no loss of enthusiasm."

— Winston S. Churchill

British Artist, Historian, Writer and Statesman

1874 - 1965

Churchill painting (1946)

Churchill was a man who faced both failure and success multiple times throughout his life.  He did poorly in school, had a speech impediment, grieved the death of a child, smoked Havana cigars, and was captured and spent time as a prisoner of war in South Africa.  He wrote a novel, two biographies, three volumes of memoirs and several books of history.  He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1953.  He painted hundreds of paintings and several now hang in museums.  He served as the Prime Minister of Great Britain twice.  So when Churchill speaks of failure and success we all should listen.

We all face both failure and success in our lives.  How we respond to what life hands us will tell others a lot about our character.  When you suffer the humiliation of defeat and rejection, how do you respond?  Do you become angry?  Do you seek revenge?  Do you withdrawal into depression?  When you receive some honor and are applauded by everyone, how do you respond?  Does the recognition go to your head and you become arrogant?  Do you act like a diva and expect everyone to do your bidding?  How we deal with the successes and failures of life tells us a lot about ourselves.

Daybreak at Cassis, near Marseilles
(1920)

Albert Einstein

"I am enough of an artist to draw freely upon my imagination.  Imagination is more important than knowledge.  Knowledge is limited.  Imagination encircles the world."

— Albert Einstein

German Theoretical Physicist

1879 - 1955

Unfortunately, most schools are focused on increasing the knowledge of their students, not their imagination.  And while knowledge is important, imagination is even more important.  There is a limit to how much knowledge we can gain and retain.  The span and accuracy of knowledge is constantly changing and expanding.  What is considered truth today is considered foolish tomorrow.  Once people believed the earth was flat.  We would be much better off if our schools also encouraged imagination.

And the same can be said about creative leaders.  Many artists, writers, actors and musicians study to increase their knowledge of their art.  And this knowledge is good but limited.  We need to be encouraging our imaginations.  We should be exploring the worlds of our imaginations.  What are you doing to increase your imagination?

Cynthia Ozick

"We often take for granted the very things that most deserve our gratitude."

— Cynthia Ozick

American Novelist

1928 -

Are you thankful for the abilities, talents and gifts that you have?  The gift of sight is something that many of us take for granted on most days and yet without it our lives would be dramatically altered.  Our ability to see allows us to navigate the world in which we live and gives us the opportunity to go where we want without assistance.  Writing that novel or painting that canvas would be much more difficult if you could not see.  You would not be able to read a book unless you learned Braille or listened to books.  You would not be able to see the faces of those you love.  Give thanks for your ability to see every day.




Are you thankful for your ability to hear?  What would your life be like if you were deaf?  You would not be able to listen to music or hear the words, "I love you."  Yes, you still should be able to write that great novel or paint that masterpiece, but you would miss out on much that happens around you.  You wouldn't hear the birds singing in the morning or the wind in the trees or the rain falling.  Be thankful that you still have your ability to hear.




Life gives us so many challenges and difficulties that we often lose sight of what we have.  We become lost in all the things we don't have.  We are unhappy because we have not published a novel or sold a painting.  We wish we were rich and famous.  Life is so precious.  We should be happy that we awoke this morning and are still above ground.  We should be happy that people love us and care for us.




Learn to develop an attitude of gratitude.  Give thanks every day for the gifts you have been given.   I challenge you sit down right now and write down ten things that your are grateful for.  Post them to this blog if you would like to share.




Here is a video of Ozick discussing her life and writing.

Larry Wilde

"Like all creative souls, writers learn over time that while they may be failing, they are not failures.  They learn from their mistakes, and they keep on going.  When it seems they've hit a stone wall, they find a way to move ahead.  Even if it takes them down a radically different path."

— Larry Wilde

American Writer, Speaker

1928 - 

The challenge that many creative leaders face is learning to separate their creations from who they are.  If we identify too closely with our creations, we will not be able to handle criticism or failure.  We must realize that we are much more than our creations.  We are human beings with friends, families and other important relationships.  If we let the failure of our creations to depress or anger us, we are identifying too closely with them.  Sometimes our creations will not find a worshiping or adoring audience.  And this is okay.  Learn not to depend on the praise of others — editors, publishers, readers, critics, etc.  Taste is arbitrary and fickle.  Believe in your work and some day an audience will appear.  

Terry McMillan

"Writing is my shelter.  I don't hide behind the words; I use them to dig inside my heart to find the truth."

— Terry McMillan

American Novelist

1951 -

What is your art for you?  Is it your shelter?  Your protection?  Your connection to the outside world? Whether we are writers, painters or poets, our art serves us in many ways.  Sometimes it provides us hope for a better world.  Sometimes it provides us with the strength to go on living.  Often it saves us from our own worst selves.  Some of us are better people because of our art.

Do you tell the truth with your art?  Do you share what needs to be shared.  Or do you hide behind your art?  Do you dig deep inside your soul and reveal the truth?  Or do you share only what floats on the surface of the water?

Robert Browning

"A moment's success pays for the failure of years."

— Robert Browning

English Poet

1812 - 1889

Success is short-lived and fleeting.  Success rarely makes you a better person.  The demons that haunted you when you were a failure still haunt you when you are a success.  In fact, success often makes the demons worse.  Success has even destroyed some creative leaders.  Yet, ask any writer, singer, actor or artist if those years of failure, hardship and poverty were worth that moment of success, and most will say yes.



Here is a poem by Robert Browning about two lovers sneaking out to meet each other late at night.



Meeting at Night


The gray sea and the long black land;

And the yellow half-moon large and low:

And the startled little waves that leap

In fiery ringlets from their sleep,

As I gain the cove with pushing prow,

And quench its speed i’ the slushy sand.


Then a mile of warm sea-scented beach;

Three fields to cross till a farm appears;

A tap at the pane, the quick sharp scratch

And blue spurt of a lighted match,

And a voice less loud, through joys and fears,

Than the two hearts beating each to each!

Catherine Lanigan

"I learned that writers make something out of nothing.  We make dreams into reality.  That's our nature, our mission.  We were born to it.  I will never give up my dream again.  Never." 

— Catherine Lanigan

American Writer

1947 - 

Catherine Lanigan gave up on her dream of writing while in college because a college professor told her she had no talent.  Years later after encouragement from a journalist, she returned to writing. 

We all have people who try to destroy our dreams and it takes courage to stand up to them.  If you are a beginning artist, writer, actor or singer, don't ask if you have talent.  No one can judge that but you.  Ask if you have the passion and persistence to keep creating even when others discourage you.  Ask if you have the heart and the courage to stand up for what you believe in.

Writers and artists make something from nothing.  They take a blank canvas and fill it with color.  They take a blank sheet of paper and fill it with story.  Believe in your dream.  Believe in yourself.  Believe in your creative gift.

Wassily Kandinsky

"The artist must have something to say, for mastery over form is not his goal but rather the adapting of form to its inner meaning."

— Wassily Kandinsky

Russian Artist

1866 - 1944

When I graduated from college, I wanted to be a writer, but I had no idea what to write about. I had nothing to say — nothing that I wanted to say.  I had an idea about writing a historical novel about a sleeping preacher who had lived at the beginning of the 20th century.  Maybe through the life of someone else, I would find something to write about.  The novel never materialized.  I failed at the research.

Creative leaders must have something to say — something that needs saying.  If we focus on form but have no substance, we will not be successful.  Substance has the power to overcome weak technique, but technique cannot support a lack of substance.

What are you trying to communicate with your art?  What is the message that you want to deliver to the world.  What is the substance of your writing?  Or have you allowed your mastery of technique to overshadow the substance?

Composition X
(1939)