Quotes: Karl Lagerfeld

"You must adapt to changing times. Elegance is not what it was. Notions, concepts and visions change."

–– Karl Lagerfeld (1933-2019), German fashion designer 

Source: Elle Decoration UK, April 2009, p.110

via Sketchbook 17, 2012, p. 89 

Quotes: Paul Rand

"Among the great contributions to visual thought is the invention of collage. Collage and montage permit the integration of seemingly unrelated objects or ideas in a single picture; they enable the designer to indicate simultaneous events or scenes which by more conventional methods would result in a series of isolated pictures. The complex message presented in a single picture more readily enables the spectator to focus his attention on the advertiser's message."

–– Paul Rand (1914-1996), American art director and graphic designer 

Source: Paul Rand. Paul Rand: A Designer's Art. Yale University Press, 1985; p. 137

via Sketchbook 17, 2012, p. 90

Quotes: Alexander Solzhenitsyn

"The fewer limitations the artist imposes on his work, the less chance he has for artistic success." 

–– Alexander Solzhenitsyn (1918-2008), Russian novelist 

via Sketchbook 19, 2012, p. 20

Quotes: Pythagoras

"Limit gives form to the limitless." 

–– Pythagoras (c.570 bce –– c. 500-490 bce), Ancient Ionian Greek philosopher and founder of Pythagoreanism 

via Sketchbook 19, 2012, p. 17

Quotes: Igor Stravinsky

 "The more constraints one imposes, the more one frees oneself of the chains that shackle the spirit."

–– Igor Stravinsky (1882-1971), Russian-born French and American composer, pianist, and conductor 

via Sketchbook 19, 2012, p. 15

Quotes: Louise Penny

"'Eight is a bad number. We shouldn't be doing this.'

"'What do you mean, a "bad" number?' Madeleine could feel her heart start to pound.

"'It comes right after seven,' said Jeanne, as though that explained it. 'Eight forms the infinity sign.' She gestured in the air, her finger making an invisible sign. 'The energy goes round and round. No outlet. It gets angry and frustrated, and very powerful.' She sighed. 'This doesn't feel good at all.'"

–– Louise Penny (b. 1958), Canadian writer 

Source: Louise Penny. The Cruellest Month. London, UK: Headline Publishing Group, 2007; p. 20. Text is re: a seance. 

via Sketchbook 18, 2012, p. 145

Quotes: re: Walter Benjamin

"German philosopher Walter Benjamin was an inveterate collector of books. He also tirelessly collected quotations from books in little notebooks with black covers. Quotations became the very center of his written work. They were the way he entered into the vision of another's work and listened to tradition. To Benjamin, to achieve the essential in the quotation was to bring the truth to light." 

–– Hannah Arendt (1906-1975), German-born American Jewish writer and political philosopher re: Walter Benjamin (1892-1940), German Jewish philosopher, cultural critic, essayist

Source: Quote from Walter Benjamin, Illuminations, ed. Hannah Arendt, trans. Harry Zohn (New York: Schocken Books, 1969), 58. found in Anne West. Mapping: The Intelligence of Artistic Work. 2011. p. 196. 

via: Sketchbook 18, 2012, p. 122.

Quotes: Pablo Picasso

"Everything you can imagine is real."

–– Pablo Picasso (1881-1973), Spanish artist 

via: Sketchbook 18, 2012, p. 120.

Quotes: Louise Nevelson

"Every time I put on clothes, I'm creating a picture." 

– Louise Nevelson, Ukrainian-born (in the Russian Empire), American sculptor (1889-1988) 

via: Sketchbook 18, 2012, p. 61 

Quotes: Jane Austen

"There is nothing like staying at home for real comfort." 

–– Jane Austen (1775-1817), British novelist 

via: Sketchbook 18, 2012, p. 38.

Quotes: Katharine Hepburn

"If you obey all the rules, you miss all the fun." 

–– Katharine Hepburn (1907-2003), American actress 

via: Sketchbook 18, 2012, p. 38.

Quotes: Ellen Harvey

"... as an artist, what you do is fail all the time. ... I am always haunted by the ghost of the piece that might have been." 

–– Ellen Harvey (b. 1967), British-born, Brooklyn-based conceptual artist 

Source: Simon Houpt. Globe and Mail, Saturday March 15, 2008, p. R10.

via Sketchbook 18, 2012, p. 21

Quotes: Uta Hagen

"We must overcome the notion that we must be regular. It robs us of the chance to be extraordinary and leads us to the mediocre." 

–– Uta Hagen (1919-2004), German-American actress and critic 

via: Sketchbook 18, 2012, p. 15

Quotes: Agnes Martin

"For an artist this is the only way. There is no help anywhere. He must listen to his own mind." 

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

Source: Agnes Martin. "Beauty is the mystery of life." Agnes Martin. New York: Whitney Museum of American Art, 1992; p. 10. 

Note: "Mind" as used by Martin does not imply intellect. Rather it suggests receptivity to inspiration, awakened sensibility, and intuition. To listen is to pay attention, take note, and reflect. 

via: Sketchbook 17, 2012, p. 137.

Quotes: Thomas Jefferson

"The object of walking is to relax the mind. You should therefore not permit yourself even to think while you walk, but divert yourself by the objects surrounding you. Walking is the best possible exercise." 

–– Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826), American politician, U.S. president, architect, philosopher and lawyer

via Sketchbook 17, 2012, p. 108

Quotes: Maira Kalman

""Think small" is my new motto. It helps me handle the complicated too-muchness of it all." 

–– Maira Kalman (b. 1949), Israeli-born American illustrator and writer 

Source: Maira Kalman. And the Pursuit of Happiness. New York: The Penguin Press, 2010; p. 281. 

via Sketchbook 17, 2012, p. 106

Quotes: Jacques-Henri Lartigue

"Dissatisfaction with one's self and dissatisfaction with the world is necessary ... it is one of the prime things that keeps the artist going on." 

–– Jacques-Henri Lartigue (1894-1986), French photographer and painter

Quotes: Gaston Bachelard

"The house shelters daydreaming, the house protects the dreamer, the house allows one to dream in peace."

–– Gaston Bachelard (1884-1962), French philosopher 

Quotes: Maya Angelou

"The ache for home lives in all of us, the safe place where we can go as we are and not be questioned." 

–– Maya Angelou (1928-2014), American poet, memoirist, and civil rights activist 

via: Sketchbook 17, 2012, p. 100

Quotes: Oscar Wilde

"Beauty is a form of genius." 

–– Oscar Wilde (1854-1900), Irish poet and playwright 

via Sketchbook 17, 2012, p. 94

Quotes: John Ruskin

"The purest and most thoughtful minds are those which love colour the most."

–– John Ruskin (1819-1900), British art critic, writer, and philosopher 

via Sketchbook 17, 2012, p. 93

Quotes: Irish Proverb

"A good laugh and a long sleep are the best cures in the doctor's book." 

–– Irish proverb

via Sketchbook 17, 2012, p. 93 

Quotes: Kurt Vonnegut

"Strange travel suggestions are dancing lessons from God." 

–– Kurt Vonnegut (1922-2007), American writer

via Sketchbook 17, 2012, 91

Quotes: Karl Lagerfeld

"Don't get too attached to things. The most important thing is to do things, not to have them."

–– Karl Lagerfeld (1933-2019), German fashion designer 

Source: Elle Decoration UK, April 2009, p.109

via Sketchbook 17, 2012, p. 89

Quotes: Seneca

"Where the fear is, happiness is not." 

–– Seneca (4 BC - AD 65), Roman Stoic philosopher, dramatist, statesman 

via Sketchbook 17, 2011, p. 71

Quotes: Paul Rand

"The artist is a collector of things imaginary or real. He accumulates things with the same enthusiasm that a little boy stuffs his pockets. The scrap heap and the museum are embraced with equal curiosity. He takes snapshots, makes notes and records impressions on tablecloths or newspapers, on backs of envelopes or matchbooks. Why one thing and not another is part of the mystery, but he is omnivorous." 

–– Paul Rand (1914-1996), American art director and graphic designer 

Source: Paul Rand. Paul Rand: A Designer's Art. Yale University Press, 1985; p. 79 

via Sketchbook 17, 2011, p. 67

Quotes: Chuck Palahniuk

"Your handwriting. The way you walk. Which china pattern you choose. It's all giving you away. Everything you do shows your hand. Everything is a self-portrait. Everything is a diary."

–– Chuck Palahniuk (b. 1962), American writer 

Source: Chuck Palahniuk. Diary, 2003 novel 

via Sketchbook 17, 2011, p. 66 

Quotes: Mark Fenske

"Doodling has ... been shown to enhance our ability to track and remember key aspects of otherwise highly tedious tasks. It seems the slight distraction provided by the random swirls and shapes we draw occupies the brain's cognitive-control mechanisms that help us seek engaging activities and try to steer us away from situations that are not rewarding. But the doodling itself does not require a lot of the brain's processing resources, allowing us to take in and encode whatever else is going on without interference from these "I'm bored and need to do something else" mechanisms. 

–– Mark Fenske, author and cognitive-neuroscientist and Professor in the department of Psychology at the University of Guelph, Ontario, Canada 

Source: "Fidget, squirm, doodle –– and think better." The Globe and Mail, Thursday December 1, 2011, p. L6. 

via Sketchbook 17, 2011, p. 38

Quotes: Tamara de Lempicka

"I live life in the margins of society and the rules of normal society don't apply to those who live on the fringe." 

–– Tamara de Lempicka (1898-1980), Polish painter 

via: Sketchbook 17, 2011, p. 39

Quotes: T.S. Eliot

"the past should be altered by the present as much as the present is directed by the past."

–– T.S. Eliot (1888-1965), American-born British author 

Source: T.S. Eliot. "Tradition and the Individual Talent." The Sacred Wood: Essays on Poetry and Criticism.

via Sketchbook 17, 2011, p. 9

Quotes: Eva Hoffman

"...both mind and the psyche require internality. In order to reflect on a problem or build an argument we need to turn mental attention inwards, to mull over ideas and let the mind wander; to sift the important from the trivial; to follow thoughts in their course and consider the disjunctions and connections between them." 

–– Eva Hoffman (b. 1945), Polish-born academic and writer 

Source: Helen Carnac. "Making Time." Studio: Craft and Design in Canada. Fall/Winter 2010, p. 38-42; p. 42. Quote from Eva Hoffman. Time. London: Profile Books, 2009, p. 173. 

via: Sketchbook 17, 2011, p. 9