Beginning Drawing Highlights: Self-Portraits

"If you are looking for something to be brave about consider fine arts." - Robert Frost

As a warm-up for each semester's final critique I've taken to passing out paper and asking for a short answer to the question "Why Draw?" - as in, what's the point of all this? It's sometimes a great opportunity to get anonymous, unvarnished feedback: see what sticks after many months of steady output. Ostensibly we can overlook the obvious answer, which is to satisfy the course requirements so as to earn a passing grade for a 3-credit humanities class towards a degree. But is there anything else?
What follows are excerpts from some random answers to that question juxtaposed against a few of the standout efforts for the self-portrait final critique. 

"Why Draw? Well why do people write, or sing, or perform? It's human expression, a way for people to show who they are and spread ideas and culture throughout the world. Drawing for some is a method of relaxation, a way to escape the pressures of everyday life. For others, it's their career and they draw for their income. But nomatter what it's still a part of human expression."

"Art reminds people that they are human. Art is the last stand for true free thinking. Art is important to keep the world from going to boring..."

"I like it most of the time I would say."

"Why draw? Because it's ... a means of putting your thoughts & feelings into forms."

"A critical, cognitive expression of a sometimes forgotten & ignored hemisphere."

"Art is meant to inflict self-thought & emotion. The ability to imitate a "real" object is meaningless unless it touches/grasps it's viewers."

"I like it because I can do whatever I want and not care when people judge because that's a part of the process."

"I personally draw to pass the time."

"What's art good for? Advertising."

"I like art because I can create and I love to create, to find my style."

"Why draw? Same reason I eat past being full and sleep past eleven."

“What is an artist? For every thousand people there’s nine hundred doing the work, ninety doing well, nine doing good, and one lucky bastard who’s the artist.” - Tom Stoppard