It is necessary to any originality to have the courage to be an amateur.

Wallace Stevens
About This Quote

An amateur is a person who only performs when they have to, not when they want to. An amateur does not have a well-defined role in their life. They are not professional in the way they practice their craft. In fact, an amateur is someone who is trying to be a professional in ways that cannot be professional.

The word original means that something or someone is new and different from others. We can see that someone who attempts to be a professional artist, a musician, a writer, a photographer, etc., but does not follow through with their goals can't claim to be an original.

Source: Opus Posthumous: Poems, Plays, Prose

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