Skill – Dissatisfaction – Charles Spurgeon

” DURING the nine years that I was his wife,” says the widow of the great artist Opie, ” I never saw him satisfied with one of his productions, and often, very often, have I seen him enter my sitting-room, and throwing himself in an agony of despondence on the sofa, exclaim, ‘ I never, never shall be a painter as long as I live!’ ” It was a noble despair, such as is never felt by the self-complacent daubers of sign- boards, and it bore the panting aspirant up to one of the highest niches in the artistic annals of his country. The selfsame dissatisfaction with present attainments is a potent force to bear the Christian onward to” the most eminent degree of spirituality and holiness.