The easiest thing is to react. The second easiest thing is to respond. But the hardest thing is to initiate.

You get to keep making art as long as you are willing to make the choices that let you make your art.

The Dip is the long slog between starting and mastery. A long slog that's actually a shortcut, because it gets you where you want to go faster than any other path.

The only purpose of starting is to finish, and while the projects we do are never really finished, they must ship.

The Dip is the long stretch between beginner's luck and real accomplishment. The Dip is the set of artificial screens set up to keep people like you out.

The lesson is that one person with a persistent vision can make change happen, whether climbing rocks or delivering services.

When you lead without compensation, when you sacrifice without guarantees, when you take risks because you believe, then you are demonstrating your faith in the tribe and its mission.

Sooner or later, many idealists transform themselves into disheartened realists who mistakenly believe that giving up is the same thing as being realistic.

The essential thing to know about the Dip is that it's there. Knowing that you're facing a Dip is the first step in getting through it.

You can't really decide to paint a masterpiece. You just have to think hard, work hard, and try to make a painting that you care about. Then, if you're lucky, your work will find an audience for whom it's meaningful.

I can do this forever. It's like adjusting a pair

Tennis has a Dip. The difference between a mediocre club player and a regional champion isn't inborn talent—it's the ability to push through the moments where it's just easier to quit. Politics has a Dip as well—it's way more fun to win an election than to lose one, and the entire process is built around many people starting while most people quit.