(English) Decalogue of the Artist

IV.
You shall never use beauty
as a pretext for luxury and vanity
but as a spiritual devotion.

V.
You shall not seek beauty at carnival or fair
or offer your work there, for beauty is virginal
and is not to be found at carnival or fair.

VI.
Beauty shall rise from your heart in song,
and you shall be the first to be purified.

VII.
The beauty you create shall be known
as compassion and shall console the hearts of men.

VIII.
You shall bring forth your work
as a mother brings forth her child:
out of the blood of your heart.

IX.
Beauty shall not be an opiate that puts you to sleep
but a strong wine that fires you to action,
for if you fail to be a true man or a true woman,
you will fail to be an artist.

X.
Each act of creation shall leave you humble,
for it is never as great as your dream
and always inferior to that most marvellous dream of God
which is Nature.

Gabriela Mistral