I have a feeling that art is something you do for yourself, and that any time you turn your decisions over to someone else you're postponing at best, your own development. The atmosphere of the workshop should be that of trying out one's own work and accepting the signals from others but not accepting the dictation of others because that is a violation of the spirit of art. Art can't be done by somebody else, it has got to be done by the artist.


The answers are inside the mountains: meditations on the writing life (ed. Univ of Michigan Pr, 2003)

William Stafford Quotes

I have a feeling that art is something you do for yourself, and that any time you turn your decisions over to someone else you're postponing at best, ...

I have a feeling that art is something you do for yourself, and that any time you turn your decisions over to someone else you're postponing at best, ...

I have a feeling that art is something you do for yourself, and that any time you turn your decisions over to someone else you're postponing at best, ...

I have a feeling that art is something you do for yourself, and that any time you turn your decisions over to someone else you're postponing at best, ...