9 1a) When a work of art is
finished don't keep fiddling with it.
1b) It will be ruined![1]
2a) When your idea is complete don't keep refining it; its clarity will become obscured![2]
2b) Don't force your inspiration.
2c) That is asking for trouble!
3a) When you are successful don't think of yourself as great or you will be afraid to keep working!
4a) When you have done what
is yours to do don't stand there admiring yourself.
4b) Go on!
5a) This is the way of harmony.
footnotes
[1]The important thing is
not what the author, or any artist, had in mind to begin with but what
point he decided to stop.
H.D.Harding,
Experience into Words, 1963
The Diaries of Paul Klee 1898-1918 entry 876. University of California Press