Quotes: Friedrich Nietzsche

"The snake which cannot cast its skin has to die. As well the minds which are prevented from changing their opinions; they cease to be mind." 

–– Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900) German poet and philosopher 

via: Anvil Knapsack Sketchbook, 2017, p. 37.

Quotes: Erich Ohser, a.k.a. E.O. Plauen

"If you draw, the world becomes more beautiful, far more beautiful. Trees that used to be just scrub suddenly reveal their form. Animals that were ugly make you see their beauty. If you then go for a walk, you'll be amazed how different everything can look. Less and less is ugly if every day you recognize beautiful forms in ugliness and learn to love them." 

–– Erich Ohser, a.k.a. E.O. Plauen (1903-1944), German cartoonist, creator of comic strip Father and Son 

Source: Austin Kleon, tumblr, November 2017. 

via: Anvil Knapsack Sketchbook 2017, p. 34. 

Quotes: Mary Oliver

"Today I am altogether without ambition. Where did I get such wisdom? 

–– Mary Oliver (1935-2019), American poet 

Source: Blue Pastures 

via: Anvil Knapsack Sketchbook 2017, p. 31.

Quotes: Agnes Martin

"It is through discipline and tremendous disappointment and failure that you arrive at what it is you must paint." 

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

via: Anvil Knapsack Sketchbook 2017, p. 30.

Quotes: Aldous Huxley

"Lightly child, lightly. Learn to do everything lightly. Yes, feel lightly even though you're feeling deeply... There are quicksands all about you, sucking at your feet, trying to suck you down into fear and self-pity and despair. That's why you must walk so lightly. Lightly my darling..." 

–– Aldous Huxley (1894-1963), English writer and philosopher 

via: Anvil Knapsack Sketchbook 2017, p. 27.

Quotes: Pema Chödrön

"The peace that we are looking for is not peace that crumbles as soon as there is difficulty or chaos. Whether we're seeking inner peace or global peace or a combination of the two, the way to experience it is to build on the foundation of unconditional openness to all that arises. Peace isn't an experience free of challenges, free of rough and smooth, it's an experience that's expansive enough to include all that arises without feeling threatened." 

–– Pema Chödrön  (b. 1936), American Buddhist nun and author 

via: Anvil Knapsack Sketchbook 2017, p. 23.

Quotes: Patrick Modiano

"Every day, you have the feeling you are on the wrong track. This creates a strong urge to go back and follow a different path. It is important not to give in to this urge, but to keep going. It is a little like driving a car at night, in winter, on ice, with zero visibility." 

–– Patrick Modiano (b. 1945), French novelist 

via: Anvil Knapsack Sketchbook 2017, p. 3.

Quotes: Robert Bresson

"Unbalance so as to rebalance." 

–– Robert Bresson (1901-1999), French film director

 

via: Anvil Knapsack Sketchbook, 2017, p. 2.

Quotes: Haruki Murakami

"The repetition itself becomes the important thing; it's a form of mesmerism. I mesmerize myself to reach a deeper state of mind." 

–– Haruki Murakami (b.1949), Japanese writer 

via: Anvil Knapsack Sketchbook 2017-2020, 2017, p. 1. 

Quotes: Farsi saying

"The bowl maker always drinks from a cracked cup." 

–– Farsi saying

via: Toned Sketchbook 1, 2023, p. 2. 

Quotes: Irv Kochman's mother

"Happiness is like a string of pearls. Each pearl represents a moment or time that I was happy. But each pearl is separated by a knot. Separately they are happy moments, but all together they are my happiness." 

–– Irv Kochman's mother, Holocaust survivor (c. 1922-2022) Source: The Globe and Mail, Saturday January 14, 2023, p. 010. 

via: Toned Sketchbook 1, 2023, p. 2.

Quotes: Marcus Aurelius

"Our life is what our thoughts make it." 

–– Marcus Aurelius (121-180 AD), Roman Emperor and Stoic Philosopher 

via: Sketchbook 32, 2022, p. 146.

Quotes: Kurt Vonnegut

"To practice any art, no matter how well or badly, is a way to make your soul grow. So do it." 

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

via: Sketchbook 32, 2022, p. 144. 

Quotes: Seneca

"A gem cannot be polished without friction, nor a man perfected without trials." 

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

via: Sketchbook 32, 2022, p. 142.

Quotes: 14th Dalai Lama

"If one's life is simple, contentment has to come. Simplicity is extremely important for happiness. Having few desires, feeling satisfied with what you have, is very vital..." 

–– 14th Dalai Lama (b. 1935), Tibetan Buddhist monk, born Tenzin Gyatso 

Source: Elle Decoration UK, April 2018, p. 23. 

via: Sketchbook 32, 2022, p. 140.

Quotes: Laura Gauthier Petit

"If you want to be different, or revolutionary, you have to break the rules." 

–– Laura Gauthier Petit, Founder and creative director of Parisian fashion label Fête Impériale Paris

Source: Elle Decoration UK, April 2018, p. 133. 

via: Sketchbook 32, 2022, p. 133.

Quotes: César A. Cruz

"Art should comfort the disturbed and disturb the comfortable." 

–– César A. Cruz (b. 1974), Mexican-born American scholar 

Source: Elle Decoration UK, March 2018, p. 89. 

via: Sketchbook 32, 2022, p. 129.

Quotes: unknown

"Good, better, best, never let it rest. 'Til your good is better and your better, best." –– unknown* 

*a British expression used during World War II 

Source: Dame Zandra Rhodes "My mum taught dressmaking in London during the war and used to say this. Elle Decoration UK March 2018, p. 41. 

via: Sketchbook 32, 2022, p. 129. 

Quotes: James Baldwin

"Artists are here to disturb the peace." 

–– James Baldwin (1924-1987), American writer and activist 

via: Sketchbook 32, 2022, p. 128.

Quotes: Josef Albers

 "I did not teach painting but seeing." 

–– Josef Albers (1888-1976), German-born artist and educator 

via: Sketchbook 32, 2022, p. 125.

Quotes: Anni Albers

"Art is something that makes you breathe with a different kind of happiness." 

–– Anni Albers (1899-1994), German-born American textile artist and printmaker 

via: Sketchbook 32, 2022, p. 124.

Quotes: René Char

"The essential is constantly threatened by the insignificant." 

–– René Char (1907-1988), French poet 

via: Sketchbook 32, 2022, p. 122. 

Quotes: Paul Gardner

"A painting is never finished – it simply stops in interesting places." 

–– Paul Gardner (1933-2000), American visual artist, writer, and critic 

via: Sketchbook 32, 2022, p. 123.

Quotes: Henri Matisse

"The essential thing is to work in a state of mind that approaches prayer." 

–– Henri Matisse (1869-1954), French visual artist

via: Sketchbook 32, 2022, p. 122. 

Quotes: Christina Baldwin

"Journals are a lifeline between the inside and outside." 

–– Christina Baldwin, American writer and teacher 

Source: Judy Martin's my process blog, May 3, 2023

Quotes: Emily Dickinson

"The soul should always stand ajar, ready to welcome the ecstatic experience." 

–– Emily Dickinson (1830-1886), American poet 

via: Sketchbook 32, 2022, p. 120. 

Quotes: Emily Adams Bode Aujila

"We like this idea that instead of buying things for the home, you make them. Eventually you build your entire world."

 

–– Emily Adams Bode Aujila (b. 1989), American clothing designer 

Source: Vogue Living Australia, May/June 2022, p. 61. 

via: Sketchbook 32, 2022, p. 118.

Quotes: G. K. Chesterton

"I would maintain that thanks are the highest form of thought, and that gratitude is happiness doubled by wonder."

–– G.K. Chesterton (1874-1936), English writer 

Source: Austin Kleon, November 18, 2022. 

via: Sketchbook 32, 2022, p. 111.

Quotes: Louise Bourgeois

"But there is something else in the assemblage, there is the restoration and reparation. Mind you that is what my parents did, they restored and repaired tapestries, so there is a common attitude. To repair a thing, to find something broken, to find a tapestry torn apart with big holes in it and destroyed and step by step rebuild it –– making an assemblage is that. You repair the thing until you remake it completely." 

–– Louise Bourgeois (1911-2010), French-American artist 

Source: Germano Gelant. Louise Bourgeois. The Fabric Works, 2010, p. 251. 

via: Sketchbook 32, 2022, p. 108.

Quotes: Leo Tolstoy

"Life is continual creation, i.e. the formation of new, higher forms ... When existing forms are destroyed, this only means a new form is taking shape, invisible to us. We see what is outside us, but we don't see what is within us ... A caterpillar sees itself shrivel up, but doesn't see the butterfly which flies out of it." 

–– Leo Tolstoy (1828-1910), Russian writer 

via: Sketchbook 32, 2022, p. 51.