Our deep­est fear is not that we are inad­e­quate. Our deep­est fear is that we are pow­er­ful beyond mea­sure. It is our light, not our dark­ness, that fright­ens us most. We ask our­selves, ‘Who am I to be bril­liant, gor­geous, tal­ented, and famous?’ Actu­ally, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your play­ing small does not serve the world. There is noth­ing enlight­ened about shrink­ing so that peo­ple won’t feel inse­cure around you. We were born to make man­i­fest the glory of God that is within us. It’s not just in some of us; it’s in all of us. And when we let our own light shine, we uncon­sciously give other peo­ple per­mis­sion to do the same. As we are lib­er­ated from our own fear, our pres­ence auto­mat­i­cally lib­er­ates oth­ers.
~Nel­son Mandela

I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the tri­umph over it. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who con­quers that fear. ~Nel­son Mandela

There is a vital­ity, a life force, a quick­en­ing that is trans­lated through you into action, and there is only one of you in all time, this expres­sion is unique, and if you block it, it will never exist through any other medium; and be lost. The world will not have it. It is not your busi­ness to deter­mine how good it is, not how it com­pares with other expres­sion. It is your busi­ness to keep it yours clearly and directly, to keep the chan­nel open. You do not even have to believe in your­self or your work. You have to keep open and aware directly to the urges that moti­vate you. Keep the chan­nel open. No artist is pleased. There is no sat­is­fac­tion what­ever at any time. There is on a queer, divine dis­sat­is­fac­tion, a blessed unrest that keeps us march­ing and makes us more alive than the oth­ers. ~Martha Graham