Take it from me

A song from Gilbert & Sullivan's Ruddigore that is vastly relevent to creative artists of all kinds:

My boy, you may take it from me,
That of all the afflictions accurst
With which a man's saddled
And hampered and addled,
A diffident nature's the worst.

Though clever as clever can be ?
A Crichton of early romance ?
You must stir it and stump it,
And blow your own trumpet,
Or, trust me, you haven't a chance!

If you wish in the world to advance,
Your merits you're bound to enhance,
You must stir it and stump it,
And blow your own trumpet,
Or, trust me, you haven't a chance!

BOTH. If you wish in the world to advance, etc.

Now take, for example, my case:
I've a bright intellectual brain ?
In all London city
There's no one so witty ?
I've thought so again and again.

I've a highly intelligent face ?
My features cannot be denied ?
But, whatever I try, sir,
I fail in ? and why, sir?
I'm modesty personified!

If you wish in the world to advance, etc.

BOTH. If you wish in the world to advance, etc.

As a poet, I'm tender and quaint ?
I've passion and fervour and grace ?
From Ovid and Horace
To Swinburne and Morris,
They all of them take a back place.

Then I sing and I play and I paint:
Though none are accomplished as I,
To say so were treason:
You ask me the reason?
I'm diffident, modest, and shy!

If you wish in the world to advance, etc.

BOTH. If you wish in the world to advance, etc.