'Mediocrity is always invisible until passion shows up and exposes it'

Martha Graham's philosophy of creativity

'It's those who lie outside ordinary experience who have the most to teach us.'

'Voices ought not be measured by how pretty they are. Instead they matter only if they convince you that they are telling the truth.'

'You will never feel proud of your work if you find no joy within it; your best work is always joyful work.'

A quote from Robin Williams

'Only those who dare to fail greatly can ever achieve greatly.'

A quote by athlete Walter Payton

'I honestly think it is better to be a failure at something you love than to be a success at something you hate.'

'Everybody has talent and it's just a matter of moving around until you've discovered what it is. A talent is a combination of something you love a great deal and something you can lose yourself in.'

A quote from sports journalist Stuart Scott

A quote from Mark Cuban

'Sometimes opportunities float right past your nose. Work hard, apply yourself, and be ready. When an opportunity comes you can grab it.'

A Harvard professor argues that impostor syndrome can be a good sign

A Quote by Sandra Day O'Connor

'Many of life's failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.'

'We are cups, constantly and quietly being filled. The trick is, knowing how to tip ourselves over and let the beautiful stuff out.'

'Others have seen what is and asked why. I have seen what could be and asked why not.'

'No big challenge has ever been solved, and no lasting improvement has ever been achieved, unless people dare to try something different.'

'Until you're ready to look foolish, you'll never have the possibility of being great.'

'The fact is always obvious much too late, but the most singular difference between happiness and joy is that happiness is a solid and joy a liquid.'

'Be silent, if you choose; but when it is necessary, speak—and speak in such a way that people will remember it.'

Loving bad art isn't always about mockery

Listen to an interview with Martha Graham from 1974

'Real courage is when you know you're licked before you begin, but you begin anyway and see it through no matter what.'

'Always be a first-rate version of yourself, instead of a second-rate version of somebody else.'

'Without goals, training has no direction.'

'Sometimes the biggest problem is in your head. You've got to believe you can play a shot instead of wondering where your next bad shot is coming from.'

'Do something you really like, and hopefully it pays the rent. As far as I'm concerned, that's success.'

'We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars.'

'All that is gold does not glitter, not all those who wander are lost; the old that is strong does not wither, deep roots are not reached by the frost.'

'Your failures are your accomplishments because it makes you prepared for whatever it is that you are going to do next.'

'When you're climbing Mount Everest, nothing is easy. You just take one step at a time, never look back and always keep your eyes glued to the top.'

A quote by Howard Hughes

'There cannot be mental atrophy in any person who continues to observe, to remember what he observes, and to seek answers for his unceasing hows and whys about things.'

'Why am I trying to become what I don't want to be … when all I want is out there, waiting for me the minute I say I know who I am.'

Martha Graham on preparation and discipline

A quote by Roger Federer

'I think a hero is an ordinary individual who finds the strength to persevere and endure in spite of overwhelming obstacles.'

'In my experience, each failure contains the seeds of your next success—if you are willing to learn from it.'

'Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited, whereas imagination embraces the entire world.'

'The consumer isn't a moron, she's your wife' is among David Ogilvy's most memorable pieces of advertising advice.

'Life is like a ten speed bicycle. Most of us have gears we never use.'

'Try to be a rainbow in someone's cloud.'

'After you make a fool of yourself a few hundred times, you learn what works.'

'The man who can drive himself further once the effort gets painful is the man who will win.'

'Pioneering is never done in front of cheerleaders urging on a roaring grandstand of popular approval.'

A quote by Magic Johnson

'I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I needed to be.'

A Guardian writer turned midlife chess slump into an obsession

A quote by award-winning actor Tom Hanks