When stars burn out
It is sometimes said that the tragedy of an artist’s life is that
he cannot realise his ideal. But the true tragedy that dogs the steps
of most artists is that they realise their ideal too absolutely. For,
when the ideal is realised, it is robbed of its wonder and its mystery,
and becomes simply a new starting-point for an ideal that is other than
itself.
– Oscar Wilde, from “Intentions”
