Quotes 218: Eleanor Roosevelt

"A little simplification would be the first step toward rational living, I think." 

–– Eleanor Roosevelt (1884-1962), American author, activist, diplomat, political figure, and First Lady. 

Quotes 217: Nani Marquina

"I don't think you can create if you don't nourish your influences." 

–– Nani Marquina (b. 1952), Spanish designer of rugs and textiles 

Source: Elle Decoration UK September 2021, p. 60 

Quotes 216: Sol LeWitt

"Just stop thinking, worrying, looking over your shoulder wondering, doubting, fearing, hurting, hoping for some easy way out, struggling, grasping, ... Stop it and just DO! ... 

Don't worry about cool, make your own uncool. May your own, your own world. If you fear, make it work for you –– draw and paint your fear and anxiety ... 

You must practice being stupid, dumb, unthinking, empty. Then you will be able to DO! ... 

Try to do some BAD work –– the worst you can think of and see what happens but mainly relax and let everything go to hell –– you are not responsible for the world –– you are only responsible for your work –– so DO IT. And don't think that your work has to conform to any preconceived form, idea or flavour. It can be anything you want it to be ... 

I know that you (or anyone) can only work so much and the rest of the time you are left with your thoughts. But when you work or before your work you have to empty you [sic] mind and concentrate on what you are doing. After you do something it is done and that's that. After a while you can see some are better than others but also you can see what direction you are going. I'm sure you know all that. You also must know that you don't have to justify your work –– not even to yourself."

–– excerpted from a letter from Sol LeWitt to Eva Hesse

–– Sol LeWitt (1928-2007), American artist

Quotes 215: Michele Cassou & Stewart Cubley

"To keep your process flowing, to feel the enjoyment of creation, you first need to go where it is easy. Easy means ripe. Go where you are attracted, whether it be toward a detail or a large shape. While you work on the part that is easy, other parts will mature in you, and they will be ready and waiting. You move step by step, from the easiest to the easiest. It is never tedious or tiring because there is no need to force anything. Depth resides more in surrendering to spontaneity than in hardworking struggle." 

–– Michele Cassou (b. 1942), French-born American artist, teacher, and author and Stewart Cubley, American artist, teacher, and author. 

Source: Michele Cassou and Stewart Cubley. Life, Paint and Passion: Reclaiming the Magic of Spontaneous Expression. New York: TarcherPerigree, 1996.

Quotes 214: Joni Mitchell

"The artist is the canary in the coal mine. We're supposed to be out there on the fringes with an overview. If we're doing our work we should be a little ahead of the strife."

–– Joni Mitchell (b. 1943), Canadian singer-songwriter and painter. 

Source: Joni Mitchell - Woman of Heart and Mind (2003) documentary written and directed by Susan Lacy. 

Quotes 213: Agnes Martin

"Say to yourselves: I am going to work in order to see myself and free myself. While working and in the work I must be on the alert to see myself. When I see myself in the work I will know that that is the work I am supposed to do. I will not have much time for other people's problems. I will have time to be by myself almost all the time and it will be a quiet life." 

–– Agnes Martin (1912-2004), Canadian-born American abstract painter

Source: Agnes Martin. Writings Schriften. Edited by Dieter Schwartz, Kunstmuseum Winterthur Edition Cantz 1991; p. 73.

Quotes 212: John Cleese

"Creativity is not a talent. It is a way of operating." 

–– John Cleese (b. 1939), British actor, comedian & screenwriter

Quotes 211: Nick Bantock

"Ideas are ten-a-penny. Everyone gets them. It's just that we tend to edit them out or throw them away; we dismiss them as irrelevant and unworthy, or we start to develop them but become riddled with self-doubt and lose our energy. Ideas have to be fostered, made friends with, and then encouraged through their various stages until they're strong enough to stand on their own. When they're ready, they'll make their own demands and direct their own completion." 

–– Nick Bantock (b. 1949), British author and artist based in Canada

Source: Nick Bantock. The Artful Dodger. San Francisco, California: Chronicle Books, 2000; p. 103

Quotes 210: Erik Wahl

"The purpose of art is not to produce a product. The purpose of art is to produce thinking. The secret is not the mechanics or technical skill that create art –– but the process of introspection and different levels of contemplation that generate it. Once you learn to embrace this process, your creative potential is limitless." 

–– Erik Wahl, American author, artist & entrepreneur

Quotes 209: Joyce Rupp

"In her book, On the Wings of Self-Esteem, Louise Hart warns: "Comparison sets us up for unhealthy competition. It drives wedges between people, creates separation, and enforces conformity." When we consistently compare ourselves with others we can end up rejecting our self ... and we follow someone else's dream instead of our own." 

–– Joyce Rupp (b. 1943), American Catholic writer and speaker 

Source: Joyce Rupp. The Cup of Our Life: A Guide for Spiritual Growth. Notre Dame, Indiana: Ave Maria Press, 1997, p. 81. 

via Commonplace Book 2006, p. 125

Quotes 208: Jay Shafer

"My best advice for people looking to pare down is to get rid of everything that's not contributing to your happiness. Think of it this way: A small house is a big house with all the unnecessary parts removed." 

–– Jay Shafer, American founder of Tumbleweed Tiny House Company 

Source: Met Home. 'Maximizing Mini-Spaces.' February 2006, p. 48. 

via Commonplace Book 2006, p. 124

Quotes 207: Thomas King

"Did you ever wonder how it is we imagine the world in the way we do, how it is we imagine ourselves, if not through our stories. And in the English-speaking world, nothing could be easier, for we are surrounded by stories, and we can trace these stories back to other stories and from there back to the beginnings of language. For these are our stories, the cornerstones of our culture."

–– Thomas King (b. 1943), American-born Canadian Cherokee author 

Source: Thomas King. The Truth About Stories: A Native Narrative. Toronto, Ontario: House of Anansi Press, 2003; p. 95. This was a Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) Massey lecture. Thomas King is the first Massey lecturer of Indigenous descent in its then 42 year history. What took so long???

via Commonplace Book 2020-2021, p. 116.

Quotes 206: Will Rogers

"Too many people spend money they haven't earned, to buy things they don't want, to impress people they don't like." 

–– Will Rogers (1879-1935), American Cherokee actor, writer, cowboy 

via Commonplace Book 2020-2021, p. 110

Quotes 205: Arthur Ashe

"Start where you are. Use what you have. Do what you can." 

–– Arthur Ashe (1943-1993), American professional tennis player 

via Commonplace Book 2020-2021, p. 117

Quotes 204: Dr. Samella Lewis

"Art is not a luxury as many people think –– it is a necessity. It documents history –– it helps educate people and stores knowledge for generations to come." 

–– Dr. Samella Lewis 'The Godmother of African American Art' (b. 1924), American artist, scholar, activist 

via Commonplace Book 2020-2021, p. 117

Quotes 203: John Locke

"New opinions are always suspected, and usually opposed, without any other reason but because they are not already common." 

–– John Locke (1632-1704), British philosopher and physician

via Commonplace Book, 2006, p. 122

Quotes 202: Clarence Darrow

"To think is to differ." 

–– Clarence Darrow (1857-1938), American lawyer 

via Commonplace Book, 2006, p. 122

Quotes 201: Gill Edwards

"Our outer world is a mirror of our inner world –– so clutter is a symbol of unfinished business, clinging to the past, stagnant energy, unwillingness to change and a belief in scarcity. According to the Huna wisdom, everything we own is connected to us by strands of energy, known as aka threads. Every single object either lifts our energy or depletes it –– and clutter depletes it. Clutter is tiring. It scatters our thoughts, stops our own energy flowing and keeps our lives stuck. It also prevents the subtle energy (Ch'i) of our home from flowing freely, which affects how we feel at home and what we attract into our lives."

 –– Gill Edwards (1955-2011), British writer and psychologist

Source: Gill Edwards. Pure Bliss: The Art of Living in Soft Time. London: Piatkus, 1999; p.282-283).

via Commonplace Book, 2006, p. 117

Quotes 200: Booker T. Washington

"I have learned that success is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life as by the obstacles which he has overcome while trying to succeed." 

–– Booker Taliaferro Washington (1856-1915), American educator, author, orator, and adviser to several U.S. presidents 

via Commonplace Book 2006, p. 122

Quotes 199: Cynthia Heimel

"When in doubt, make a fool of yourself. There is a microscopically thin line between being brilliantly creative and acting like the most gigantic idiot on Earth. So what the hell, leap." 

–– Cynthia Heimel (1947-2018), American feminist humorist writer

via Commonplace Book 2006, p. 121 

Quotes 198: George Sand

"One is happy as a result of one's efforts, once one knows the necessary ingredients of happiness –– simple tastes, a certain degree of courage, self-denial to a point, love of work, and, above all, a clear conscience. Happiness is no vague dream, of that I now feel certain." 

–– George Sand, pen name of Amantine Lucile Aurore Dupin, (1804-1876), French writer

via Commonplace Book 2006, p. 120

Quotes 197: Martin Luther King Jr.

"Potential powers of creativity are within us, and we have the duty to work assiduously to discover these powers." 

–– Martin Luther King Jr. (1929-1968), American Baptist minister and civil rights activist

via Commonplace Book 2006, p. 120

Quotes 196: Willem de Kooning

"Everything is already in art. It's like a big bowl of soup. You stick your head in and you find something there for you." 

–– Willem de Kooning (1904-1997), Dutch-born American artist

via Commonplace Book 2006, p. 120

Quotes 195: Eleanor Roosevelt

"One thing life has taught me: if you are interested, you never have to look for new interests. They come to you. When you are genuinely interested in one thing, it will always lead to something else." 

–– Eleanor Roosevelt (1884-1962), American author, activist, diplomat, political figure, and First Lady. 

via Commonplace Book 2006, p. 113 

Quotes 194: Beatrice Wood

"We develop through experience. Therefore, hardships and misfortunes challenge us. It is in overcoming mistakes that we touch the song of life." 

–– Beatrice Wood (1893-1998), American artist and studio potter

via Commonplace Book 2006, p. 113

Quotes 193: Romare Bearden

"Well, you put down a colour and it calls for an answer, you have to look at it like a melody." 

–– Romare Bearden (1911-1988), American artist

via Commonplace Book 2006, p. 113 

Quotes 192: Milan Knížák

"Build yourself wings. Fly straight ahead. Walk a straight line. Visit. Leave a special sign on the door. Make a gift of words. Mark your path with books. With clothes. With food. Join two distant places. Two rocks. Two people. Bridge a river. Build a city of sand. Raise up a mound." 

–– Milan Knížák (b. 1940), Czech multidisciplinary artist

via Commonplace Book 2006, p. 113

Quotes 191: James Russell Lowell

"Creativity is not the finding of a thing, but the making something out of it after it is found." 

–– James Russell Lowell (1819-1891), American poet, critic, editor & diplomat 

via Commonplace Book 2006, p. 112 

Quotes 190: Robert Henri

"Don't worry about your originality. You couldn't get rid of it even if you wanted to. It will stick with you and show up for better or worse in spite of all you or anyone else can do." 

–– Robert Henri, born Robert Henry Cozad (1865-1929), American painter and teacher

via Commonplace Book 2006, p. 111 

Quotes 189: Wallace Fowlie

"The poet, they say, borrows nothing that is foreign or unfamiliar to himself. He takes back what was his to begin with –– those things, precisely, in which he recognizes himself." 

–– Wallace Fowlie (1908-1988), American writer and professor 

via Commonplace Book 2006, p. 111 

Quotes 188: Corita Kent

"One purpose of art is to alert people to things they might have missed." 

–– Corita Kent (1918-1986), American artist, designer, educator & former Roman Catholic nun

via Commonplace Book 2006, p. 110