It isn't just talent. You have to have something else. You have to have a kind of nerve.

Known for her abstract paintings inspired by nature, Georgia O’Keeffe knew from an early age that she wanted to be an artist. She once wrote in a letter to her sister Catherine, “I’m frightened all the time. Scared to death. But I’ve never let it stop me. Never!” This quote, from a 1977 interview O’Keeffe gave at the age of 90, reflects the artist’s attitude toward her vocation, and her determination to overcome fear in order to achieve her goals. Even at the age of 90, with decades of awards and accolades to her name, O’Keeffe downplayed the importance of natural talent. Instead, she credited her impressive body of work to “mostly a lot of nerve, and a lot of very, very hard work.”