I recently read Steal Like An Artist: 10 Things Nobody Told You About Being Creative by Austin Kleon. Below are the quotes I found most interesting. As always, if you like the quotes, please click here to buy the full book.
“French writer Andre Gide put it, “Everything that needs to be said has already been said. But, since no one was listening, everything must be said again.”” (8)
“You are, in fact, a mashup of what you choose to let into your life. You are the sum of your influences.” (11)
“Whether you’re in school or not, it’s always your job to get yourself an education.” (19)
“Look things up. Chase down every reference. Go deeper than anybody else – that’s how you’ll get ahead.” (19)
“It’s in the act of making things and doing our work that we figure out who we are.” (27)
“Cartoonist Gary Panter said, “If you have one person you’re influenced by, everyone will say you’re the next whoever. But if you rip off a hundred people, everyone will say you’re so original.”” (36)
“Don’t just steal the style, steal the thinking behind the style. You don’t want to look like your heroes, you want to see like your heroes.” (36)
“In Conan O’Brien’s words, “it is our failure to become our perceived ideal that ultimately defines us and makes us unique.”” (41)
“Enjoy your obscurity while it lasts. Use it.” (78)
“Step one, “do good work,” is incredibly hard. There are no shortcuts. Make stuff every day. Know you’re going to suck for a while. Fail. Get better.” (79)
“Harold Ramis once laid out his rule for success: “Find the most talented person in the room, and if it’s not you, go stand next to him. Hang out with him. Try to be helpful.” (104)
“If you find that you’re the most talented person in the room, you need to find another room.” (104)
“Validation is for parking.” (111)
“The trouble with creative work: Sometimes by the time people catch on to what’s valuable about what you do, you’re either a) bored to death with it, or b) dead.” (112)
“Get comfortable with being misunderstood, disparaged, or ignored – the trick is to be too busy doing your work to care.” (112)
“Gustave Flaubert said, “be regular and orderly in your life, so that you may be violent and original in your work.”” (118)
“My grandpa used to tell my dad, “Son, it’s not the money you make, it’s the money you hold on to.”” (121)
“Establishing and keeping a routine can be even more important than having a lot of time.” (124)
“Amassing a body of work or building a career is a lot about the slow accumulation of little bits of effort over time.” (127)
“Nicholson Baker says, “if you ask yourself ‘what’s the best thing that happened today?’ it actually forces a certain kind of cheerful retrospection that pull up from the recent past things to write about that you wouldn’t otherwise think about.”” (130)
Liked the quotes? Click here to buy the book.