"The musician too often neglects opportunities for extending his general knowledge and thus adding to his powers as a man. He is too ready to separate the man from the artist: he exalts the education of the artist at the expense of the education of the man, with the result that his views are warped and one-sided. His idiosyncrasies are passed off with the saying, “Oh, well, he is a musician; that is the artistic temperament.” The phrase “artistic temperament” is very often the substitute for saying, “He is irresponsible and lacking just a little in mental acumen."
— Man First, Artist Afterwards, by Dr. C.H. Mills, The Violinist, 1912 (via songofthelark)
