Passion and Eccentricity

There is a quote which reads: "Your creativity (of whatever persuasion) consumes you to the point of eccentricity", and a related one, "Dance, music, art, beauty are not luxuries, peripheral experiences or mere entertainment, but physical needs." I have decided that these should be the topic of this musing, because they constitute somthing that has a mammoth effect on my existence.

Not only does my creativity consume me to the point of eccentricity, but all of my activities do! I have a hard time hearing of or experiencing anything without wanting to be able to do it myself. Ostensibly, the quote with the most influence on my life is "to be truly educated, a man must know everything about something, and something about everything" (which I can't for the life of me attribute to anyone...Im searching), but I have to admit to myself that I really want to know everything!

I have this unbelievable, all-consuming passion for learning, which is almost equaled by my love for all of my other interests! Sometimes, I can follow the series of events which leads me to taking up a new "hobby", but often, it is simply seeing something and thinking.....my goodness, I could do that! That is the way it was with designing web sites and graphics. A few times, one interest would naturally lead into another such as with costuming. I loved history of course, which led to Renaissance Faires.....which led to making garb....which just led to costuming in general! Almost everything that I have ever decided to do, I have become obsessed with....its is quite time and energy consuming, but I would certainly have a less fascinating existence!

Sometimes, I think that I would be more successful if I chose one thing to be my "thing", but how could I ever choose which one it would be? I feel that I could no more cut off my right arm than choose only one thing to pursue with all of my passion! So, the question is, is it better to be a bard, with a passing knowledge and skill of almost everything, or to be commited to only one thing? When you are solely and firmly commited to something, whatever it is, you become the best that you can possibly be at it. You can't be the best at everything, but perhaps you get more pleasure from variety.....it all depends on what you want.

Now, people with questionable sanity *like me* really want to be the best that they can at everything, and practically kill themselves trying to do it......who has it right? Which of us has the most effective habits? Im not really sure, Im looking for some opinions. What do you think? Of course all of these scenarios call for substantial portions of passion....I know how much work it is, but I really think that I would rather be the way that I am, and passionate about everything than to be indecisive,and neutral.....there is a quote that Im thinking of......"The hottest places in Hell are reserved for those who, when a decision is called for, remain neutral" (or something similar).....I cant find it anywhere! If you know which one I mean, let me know.