“Art enables us to find ourselves and lose ourselves at the same time.” ― Thomas Merton

“I dream my painting and I paint my dream.” ― Vincent Willem van Gogh

“Painting is poetry that is seen rather than felt, and poetry is painting that is felt rather than seen.” ― Leonardo da Vinci

“Everything you can imagine is real.” ― Pablo Picasso

“Books are the plane, and the train, and the road. They are the destination, and the journey. They are home.” ― Anna Quindlen

“Let us read, and let us dance; these two amusements will never do any harm to the world.” ― Voltaire

“A great book should leave you with many experiences, and slightly exhausted at the end. You live several lives while reading.” ― William Styron

“Books are the quietest and most constant of friends; they are the most accessible and wisest of counselors, and the most patient of teachers.” ― Charles W. Eliot

“If one cannot enjoy reading a book over and over again, there is no use in reading it at all.” ― Oscar Wilde

“Radical simply means "grasping things at the root.” ― Angela Davis

“Yes I am weird, weird is good. Normal is overrated.” ― Mad-D

“If you are always trying to be normal, you will never know how amazing you can be.” ― Maya Angelou

In 2014, the extremist group ISIS took over Mosul, Iraq, and Ameen Mokdad found himself living under their occupation. Music was banned under ISIS but Ameen Mokdad continued to play in secret as Michael Levitt and Ari Shapiro report for NPR.

“Art washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life.” ― Pablo Picasso

“If you ask me what I came to do in this world, I, an artist, will answer you: I am here to live out loud.” ― Émile Zola

“The most beautiful experience we can have is the mysterious. It is the fundamental emotion that stands at the cradle of true art and true science.” ― Albert Einstein

“Wishing to be friends is quick work, but friendship is a slow ripening fruit.” ― Aristotle