When the hour of dire need draws nigh Keep the faculty of effort alive in you by a little gratuitous exercise every day. That is, be systematically ascetic or heroic in little unnecessary points, do every day or two something for no other reason than that you would rather not do it, so that when the hour of dire need draws nigh, it may find you not unnerved. William James, Principles of Psychology wisdomneed
The inner nature of material The work of an artist in getting the details that he wants is greatly facilitated if he selects a material whose inner nature makes it want to take the desired shape. Cyril Stanley Smith, A Search for Structure A state of energetic repose materialdetails