“I know of no more encouraging fact than the unquestionable ability to elevate life by conscious endeavor. It is something to be able to paint a particular picture, or to carve a statue, and so to make a few objects beautiful; but it is far more glorious to carve and paint the very atmosphere and medium through which we look. To affect the quality of the day, that is the highest of arts.”
― Henry David Thoreau, Walden
