in Thoreau’s Journal:

Great works of art have endless leisure for a background, as the universe has space. Time stands still while they are created. The artist cannot be in hurry. The earth moves round the sun with inconceivable rapidity, and yet the surface of the lake is not ruffled by it.

It is not by a compromise, it is not by a timid and feeble repentance, that a man will save his soul and live, at last.