In May 2012, famed writer Neil Gaiman was the voice of wisdom + unique humor at Philadelphia's University of the Arts commencement ceremony. Neil dedicated almost twenty minutes of his time to speak to every creative genius who knows they are a creative genius but have yet to live out their creative genius. Now honestly, if I told you the amount of times that I have listened to this speech,
none of you would believe me but trust me when I say this...you will be
inspired. View the speech below as well as a few of my favorite gems from Mr. Gaiman.
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The old rules are crumbling and nobody knows what the new rules are, so make up your own rules.
When you start out you have to deal with the problems of failure. You need to be thick-skinned to learn that not every project will survive.
When you start out on a career in the arts, you have no idea what you’re doing. This is great. People who know what they’re doing know the rules and they know what is possible and what is impossible. You do not, and you should not. The rules on what is possible and what is impossible in the arts were made by people who had not tested the bounds of the possible by going beyond them, and you can. If you don’t know it’s impossible, it’s easier to do.
When things get tough, this is what you should do: Make good art.
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