One of my favorite poems is by Robert Henri.
All any man can do,
is add his fragment to the whole,
No man can be final,
but he can record his progress. . .
What he leaves is so much
for others to use as stones to step on,
or stones to avoid.
After all, the goal is not making art.
it is living a life.
Those who live their lives
will leave the stuff that is really art.
– Robert Henri, The Art Spirit