Quotes: Florence Scovel Shinn

"Do not neglect the day of small things, for little beginnings have big endings." 

–– Florence Scovel Shinn (1871-1940), American artist and book illustrator

via: Art Alternatives Knapsack Sketchbook L 2024, p. 14. 

Quotes: Joan Acocella

"Art doesn't start out hallowed. It starts out personal: an emergency." 

–– Joan Acocella (1945-2024), New Yorker staff writer and essayist 

Source: Joanna Biggs. 'The Last Word.' New York Times Book Review, Sunday March 24, 2024, p. 12. Re: review of Joan Acocella. The Bloodied Nightgown And Other Essays, posthumous collection.

via: Art Alternatives Knapsack Sketchbook L 2024, p. 13. 

Quotes: Hans Zimmer

"Life isn't as long as you think it is. You have a choice: You can go and try to live a playful life, or you can go and live a life which excludes playfulness. And it doesn't get you anywhere. Playfulness gets you somewhere." 

–– Hans Zimmer (b. 1957), German-born American film score composer and music producer 

Source: Austin Kleon newsletter Friday April 19, 2024. 

via: Art Alternatives Knapsack Sketchbook L 2024, p. 12.

Quotes: Annie Dillard

"The writer studies literature, not the world. He lives in the world; he cannot miss it. He is careful of that he reads, for that is what he will write. He is careful of what he learns, because that is what he will know."

– Annie Dillard (b. 1945), American writer 

via: Commonplace Book 1999-2001, 2003.

Quotes: Nelson Mandela

"As we are liberated from our fear, our presence automatically liberates others."

–– Nelson Mandela (1918-2013), South African anti-apartheid activist, politician, South Africa's first Black president (1994-1999), winner of the Nobel Peace Prize 1993 

via: Commonplace Book 1999-2001, 2002.

Quotes: Emily Dickinson

"No is the widest word we consign to language."

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

via: Commonplace Book 1999-2001, 2002.

Quotes: Italo Calvino

"Be as light as a bird, not as a feather." 

–– Italo Calvino (1923-1985), Cuban-born Italian author and journalist 

via: Commonplace Book 1999-2001, 2002.

Quotes: Harriet Rubin

"Carl Jung said that people are more frightened of their strengths than they are of their weaknesses. If we knew how good we are, Jung believed, we'd have to act on our potential." 

–– Harriet Rubin (b. 1952), American writer 

Source: Harriet Rubin. Soloing: Realizing Your Life's Ambition. New York: Harper Business, 1999; p. 80.

via: Commonplace Book 1999-2001, 2002.

Quotes: Mary Oliver

"The patterns of our lives reveal us. Our habits measure us."

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

Quotes: Iris Apfel

"I could never be friends with anybody who wasn't curious and didn't have a sense of humour." 

–– Iris Apfel (August 29, 1921- March 1, 2024), American entrepreneur and style icon 

Quotes: Will Rogers

"Even if you're on the right track, you'll get run over if you just sit there. Opportunity rarely knocks on your door. Knock rather on opportunity's door if you ardently wish to enter."  

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

Source: Faire Magazine Issue 9, July 2023, p. 61.

via: Aboveground Art Supplies Sketchbook 2020, 2024, p. 32. 

Quotes: Tara Badcock

"When I feel creatively stuck I remember some great advice a furniture designer gave me years ago: by starting to make something, the act of making will function as a problem-solving process and the work will reveal itself to me in unfolding layers as I continue to put in the time." 

–– Tara Badcock, Tasmanian artist 

Source: Faire Magazine Issue 9, July 2023, p. 61.

via: Aboveground Art Supplies Sketchbook 2020, 2024, p. 31. 

Quotes: Paulo Coelho

"Maybe the journey isn't so much about becoming anything. Maybe it's about unbecoming everything that isn't really you, so you can be who you were meant to be in the first place."

–– Paulo Coelho (b. 1947), Brazilian writer and lyricist 

Source: Peter Attia. Outlive. New York: Harmony Books, 2023; p. 408.

via: Aboveground Art Supplies Sketchbook 2020, 2024, p. 31.

Quotes: Richard Bach

"You teach what you most need to learn." 

–– Richard Bach (b. 1936), America writer 

Source: Oliver Burkeman. Four Thousand Weeks. New York: Allen Lane, 2021; p. 33.

via: Aboveground Art Supplies Sketchbook 2020, 2023, p. 30.

Quotes: Robert Fripp

"Discipline, primarily, is our capacity to make a commitment in time." 

–– Robert Fripp (b. 1946) English guitarist, record producer and author 

Source: Austin Kleon newsletter December 1, 2023. Robert Fripp. The Guitar Circle. 

via: Aboveground Art Supplies Sketchbook 2020, 2023, p. 27.

Quotes: Tom Blachford

"It has been a reminder that creative practice and creative flow often come from listening to your very quietest impulses and running with them." 

–– Tom Blachford (b.1987), Australian photographer 

Source: Aleesha Callahan. "Future Image Maker." Habitus June-September 2023, Issue 57, p. 45.

Quotes: Naeem Callaway

"Sometimes the smallest step in the right direction ends up being the biggest step of your life. Tiptoe if you must, but take a step." 

–– Naeem Callaway, American pastor, author, and mentor 

Quotes: Matt Farley

"If you reject your own ideas, then the part of the brain that comes up with ideas is going to stop." 

–– Matt Farley (b. 1978), American musician, song writer, and film maker 

Source: Austin Kleon Newsletter, April 5, 2024.

Quotes: 14th Dalai Lama

"Acceptance of the unacceptable is where grace is allowed to enter."

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

Quotes: G. K. Chesterton

"One sees great things from the valley; only small things from the peak."

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

via: Day In & Day Out Notes, 2024, p. 53. 

Quotes: Sonya Levien

"Small things have a way of overmastering the great. This small press can destroy a kingdom." 

–– Sonya Levien (1888-1960), Russian-born American screenwriter

via: Day In & Day Out Notes, 2024, p. 53. 

Quotes: Stephen Mansfield

"Small things done consistently, though undramatic, yield more than the large and sporadic." 

–– Stephen Mansfield (b. 1958), American author

via: Day In & Day Out Notes, 2024, p. 53. 

Quotes: Mother Teresa of Calcutta

"Be faithful in small things because it is in them that your strength lies."

–– Mother Teresa of Calcutta (1910-1997), Albanian-born Indian Roman Catholic nun 

via: Day In & Day Out Notes, 2024, p. 53. 

Quotes: V. S. Naipaul

"Small things start us in new ways of thinking." 

–– V. S. Naipaul (1932-2018), Trinidadian-British novelist, travel writer, essayist.

 via: Day In & Day Out Notes, 2024, p. 53. 

Quotes: Dale Carnegie

"Don't be afraid to give your best to what seemingly are small jobs. Every time you conquer one it makes you much stronger. If you do the little jobs well, the big ones will take care of themselves."

–– Dale Carnegie (1888-1955), American writer and lecturer

via: Day In & Day Out Notes, 2024, p. 52. 

Quotes: Rajneesh

"Whatever you do, do with deep alertness, then even small things become sacred." 

–– Rajneesh (1931-1990), Indian guru

 via: Day In & Day Out Notes, 2024, p. 52.  

Quotes: Duke Ellington

"There is no art without intention."

–– Duke Ellington (1899-1974), American Jazz pianist and composer 

via: Commonplace Book, 1999-2001, 2001.

Quotes: Iris Apfel

"You don't find out who you are unless you work at it."

–– Iris Apfel (August 29, 1921- March 1, 2024), American entrepreneur and style icon 

Quotes: Napoleon Hill

"If you can't do great things, do small things in a great way. Don't wait for great opportunities. Seize common, everyday ones and make them great."

–– Napoleon Hill (1883-1970), American writer 

via: Day In & Day Out Notes, 2024, p. 53. 

Quotes: Booker T. Washington

"Success in life is founded upon attention to the small things rather than to the large things; to the every day things nearest to us rather than to the things that are remote and uncommon."

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

via: Day In & Day Out Notes, 2024, p. 52. 

Quotes: John Wooden

"It's the little things that are vital. Little things make big things happen." 

–– John Wooden (1910-2010), American basketball coach and player

via: Day In & Day Out Notes, 2024, p. 52. 

Quotes: Michelangelo

"Perfection is no small thing, but it is made up of small things."

–– Michelangelo (1475-1564), Italian sculptor, painter, and architect 

via: Day In & Day Out Notes, 2024, p. 51.

Quotes: Harriet Rubin

"Ask yourself, when you are afraid or on the verge of a breakthrough: When does a candle shine the brightest? The answer is always in the dark."   

–– Harriet Rubin (b. 1952), American writer

Source: Harriet Rubin. The Princessa. 

via: Commonplace Book 1999-2001, 2002.

Quotes: Mignon McLaughlin

"What you have become is the price you paid to get what you used to want."

–– Mignon McLaughlin (1913-1983), American journalist and author 

via: Commonplace Book 1999-2001, 2002.

Quotes: Anna Quindlen

"If your success is not on your own terms, if it looks good to the world but does not feel good in your heart it is not success at all." 

–– Anna Quindlen (b. 1952), American journalist and novelist 

via: Commonplace Book 1999-2001, 2001.

Quotes: Milan Kundera

"... you can do one of two things –– you can stand still and put down roots and take on traditions and build them up, have families, contribute, make money, buy a tux, go to the dinner, you know, be part of it. But the traditions build up and they slowly crush you into the ground. Or, you can put down no roots, have no traditions, flit about, stay on the cusp of life all the time, wear no tux. But the problem with that is you evaporate and you float away. And this is really a fundamental decision everybody makes in their life." 

–– Milan Kundera (1929-2023), Czech-born French writer 

Source: Ian Brown (b. 1954), Canadian journalist and author. Ian Brown, Russell Smith and Mike Bullard. "You feel bullet-proof when you flirt in a tux." The Globe and Mail. Saturday December 8, 2001 (p. L1, L7); p. L7. Quote is from Milan Kundera The Unbearable Lightness of Being.

via: Commonplace Book 1999-2001, 2001.

Quotes: Leslie Forbes

"Good museum curators, like good cartographers, find space for the odd, the uncharted and the dispossessed, thus making us value what otherwise we might not." 

–– Leslie Forbes (1953-2016), Canadian writer, artist, and broadcaster 

Source: Leslie Forbes. "Mythic Bundle well worth unpacking." The Globe and Mail. Saturday September 15, 2001, Books Section; p. D10. 

via: Commonplace Book, 1999-2001, 2001.

Quotes: Paul Lima

"[Diane Baker] Mason is finally living her dream. She has made time to write. To do anything less than that would be a living nightmare, a waste of time for a sober, thinner Mason who finds herself driven by fear. Not the mundane fears of success or failure, but "the fear of being mundane. Of living your whole life and not having tried."" 

–– Paul Lima, Canadian writer 

Source: Paul Lima. "Dreaming of Fat City." The Globe and Mail. Saturday October 13, 2001 (p. D16-17); p. D17. Re: Toronto writer Diane Baker Mason's debut novel Last Summer at Barebones. 

via: Commonplace Book 1999-2001, 2001.

Quotes: Kathy Reichs

"Indecision is the key to flexibility." 

–– Kathy Reichs (b. 1948), American forensic anthropologist, novelist, professor, and producer 

Source: Kathy Reichs. Fatal Voyage. Toronto: Scribner, 2001; p. 221. 

via: Commonplace Book 1999-2001, 2001.

Quotes: Friedrich Nietzsche

"Be careful, lest in fighting the dragon you become the dragon."

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

via: Commonplace Book 1999-2001, 2001.

Quotes: Carl Jung

"The privilege of a lifetime is to become who you truly are."

–– Carl Jung (1875-1961), Swiss psychiatrist and psychologist 

Source: Daily Philosopher, Instagram, March 11, 2024.

Quotes: Cecil Day-Lewis

"We do not write in order to be understood; we write in order to understand." 

–– Cecil Day-Lewis (1904-1972), Anglo-Irish poet 

Source: C. Day-Lewis. The Poetic Image quoted in Gabrielle Lusser Rico. Writing the Natural Way. New York: J.P. Tarcher, 1983; p. 29. 

via: Commonplace Book 1999-2001, 2001.

Quotes: Rūmī

"Let yourself be drawn by the strange pull of what you love. It will not lead you astray."

 –– Jalāl ad-Dīn Muhammad Rūmī (1207-1273), Persian poet and Sufi mystic; interpretation by Coleman Barks (b. 1937), American poet 

Quotes: Anthony Robbins

"All growth starts at the end of your comfort zone." 

–– Anthony Robbins (b. 1960), American author and public speaker 

Source: Daily Philosopher, Instagram, March 6, 2024.

Quotes: Jane Goodall

"I hope people take away the fact that it is possible to have a different sort of life." 

–– Jane Goodall (b. 1934), English primatologist and anthropologist 

Source: Nitch, Instagram, March 6, 2024.

Quotes: Carl Jung

"Where your fear is, there your task is."

–– Carl Jung (1875-1961), Swiss psychiatrist and psychologist 

Quotes: 14th Dalai Lama

"If a problem is fixable, if a solution is such that you can do something about it, then there is no need to worry. 

If it's not fixable, then there is no help in worrying."

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

Source: Elissa Epel. The Stress Prescription. New York: Penguin Books, 2022; p. 33.

Quotes: Teju Cole

"Be the strange you wish to see in the world." 

–– Teju Cole (b. 1975), Nigerian-American novelist and photographer 

Quotes: Richard Diebenkorn

Notes to myself on beginning a painting by Richard Diebenkorn

1. Attempt what is not certain. Certainty may or may not come later. It may then be a valuable delusion.

2. The pretty, initial position which falls short of completeness is not to be valued – except as a stimulus for further moves.

3. Do search. But in order to find other than what is searched for.

4. Use and respond to the initial fresh qualities but consider them expendable.

5. Don't "discover" a subject – of any kind.

6. Somehow don't be bored but if you must, use it in action. Use its destructive potential.

7. Mistakes can't be erased but they move you from your present position.

8. Keep thinking about Pollyanna.

9. Tolerate chaos.

10. Be careful only in a perverse way. 

–– Richard Diebenkorn (1922-1993), American painter and printmaker

Source: Lari Washburn, Instagram, Thursday February 8, 2024.

via: Sketchbook 33, 2024, p. 146.

Quotes: Sharon Stone

"Style is what you do with what's wrong with you." 

–– Sharon Stone (b. 1958), American actress 

Source: Austin Kleon, November 10, 2023 

Quotes: Michael Heizer

"Any work of art of any worth (not a Hallmark card) is going to upset someone." 

–– Michael Heizer (b. 1944), American land artist 

Source: Minju Pak. "Affair inspires an Ode to a Punk Rock 'Sex God.'" New York Times, Sunday February 18, 2024, p. 9 (Sunday Styles). 

Quotes: Iris Apfel

"When you don't dress like everyone else, you don't have to think like everyone else." 

–– Iris Apfel (August 29, 1921- March 1, 2024), American entrepreneur and style icon

Quotes: Karl Reiland

"In about the same degree as you are helpful, you will be happy."

–– Karl Reiland (1871-1964), American clergyman 

via: Commonplace Book 1999-2001, 2001.

Quotes: Nelson Mandela

"As we let our light shine, we give others permission to do the same."

–– Nelson Mandela (1918-2013), South African anti-apartheid activist, politician, South Africa's first Black president (1994-1999), winner of the Nobel Peace Prize 1993 

via: Commonplace Book 1999-2001, 2001.

Quotes: Gertraude Beese

"A life without dreams is like a garden without flowers." 

–– Gertraude Beese 

via: Commonplace Book 1999-2001, 2001.

Quotes: Duke Ellington

"Art is dangerous. That is one of its attractions: when it ceases to be dangerous, you don't want it." 

–– Duke Ellington (1899-1974), American Jazz pianist and composer 

via: Commonplace Book, 1999-2001, 2001.

Quotes: Tracy Kidder

Character Jonathan Souweine is a lawyer who, with his wife Judith, has commissioned a house to be built.

"[Jonathan] is their organizational genius ... His principal tool is the list. If he has a great deal to do tomorrow, as he almost always does, he cannot sleep until he records his obligations in a list. He pulls lists out of pockets, drawers, briefcase. He has some ready-made lists. There's one for a camping trip with children and one for a trip without them. He's devised a kind of list that ameliorates procrastination: If he has a difficult chore of high priority and just can't bring himself to face it right away, he makes a list of this thirteen other chores of secondary significance, in the order of their relative importance. So while he puts off the big job, he still manages to attend to his second and third most important ones."

–– Tracy Kidder (b. 1945), American writer 

Source: Tracy Kidder. House. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1985; p.12.

via: Commonplace Book 1999-2001, 2001. 

Quotes: William Ralph Inge

 "What is originality? Undetected plagiarism." 

–– William Ralph Inge (1860-1954), English author, Anglican priest, and professor of divinity 

Source: Austin Kleon. Steal Like an Artist. 2012.

via: Aboveground Art Supplies 2020 Knapsack Sketchbook, 2022, p. 13.

Quotes: Luke Burgis

"After meeting our basic needs as creatures, we enter into the human universe of desire. And knowing what to want is much harder than knowing what to need." 

–– Luke Burgis, American entrepreneur and author 

Quotes: Pericles of Athens

"What you leave behind is not what is engraved in stone monuments, but what is woven into the lives of others." 

–– Pericles of Athens (495-426 B.C.), Athenian statesman, orator and general

via: Sketchbook 33, 2024, p. 128.

Quotes: Yina Ilori

"There is no design rule book. We all create differently; I like to make mistakes and don't seek perfection." 

–– Yinka Ilori (b. 1987), British-Nigerian designer 

Source: Living Etc. UK, August 2020, p. 104. 

via: Sketchbook 33, 2024, p. 115.

Quotes: Unknown

"You will never leave where you are until you decide where you want to be." 

–– Unknown

via: Commonplace Book 1999-2001, 2001.

Quotes: Alonzo Newton Benn

"Courage to start and willingness to keep everlasting at it are the requisites for success." 

–– Alonzo Newton Benn (1866-1956), American author and musician 

via: Commonplace Book 1999-2001, 2001.

Quotes: Tom Bodett

"They say a person needs just three things to be truly happy in this world. Someone to love, something to do, and something to hope for." 

–– Tom Bodett, (b. 1955), American author, voice actor, radio host, woodworker, and columnist 

via: Commonplace Book 1999-2001, 2001.

Quotes: Unknown

"It is an artist's job to get lost. If you always know where you are, you've missed the point." 

–– Author unknown 

via: Commonplace Book 1999-2001, 2001.

Quotes: Ralph Waldo Emerson

"What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters, compared to what lies within us."

–– Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882), American philosopher and writer 

via: Commonplace Book 1999-2001, 2001.

Quotes: Erica Jong

"Take life in your own hands and what happens? A terrible thing – no one to blame." 

–– Erica Jong (b. 1942), American writer 

via: Commonplace Book 1999-2001, 2001.

Quotes: Leo Burnett

"When you reach for the stars, you may not quite get one, but you won't come up with a handful of mud, either." 

–– Leo Burnett (1891-1971), American advertising executive

 via: Commonplace Book 1999-2001, 2001. 

Quotes: Thomas Edison

"I have not failed. I have successfully discovered twelve hundred ideas that do not work."

–– Thomas Edison (1847-1931), American inventor and businessman 

via: Commonplace Book 1999-2001, 2001. 

Quotes: Ralph Waldo Emerson

"Nothing great is ever accomplished without enthusiasm."

–– Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882), American philosopher and writer 

via: Commonplace Book 1999-2001, 2001. 

Quotes: Brad Smith

"Face your fears and your fears will disappear." 

–– Brad Smith (b. 1959), American lawyer

via: Commonplace Book 1999-2001, 2001. 

Quotes: Allan C. Somersall

"Difficulties are not optional, everybody has them, but the choice of your reaction always is optional." 

–– Allan C. Somersall (1949-2015), St. Kitts, West Indies-born, Canadian physician, scientist, politician, author, and motivational speaker 

Source: Allan C. Somersall. A Passion for Living: the art of real success. 1993. 

via: Commonplace Book 1999-2001, 2001.

Quotes: Tracy Kidder

""It's like geography," says Jim. "The interesting parts are the edges: Where things come together. The middle parts that are all the same are not so interesting to me." 

–– Tracy Kidder (b. 1945), American writer 

via: Commonplace Book 1999-2001, 2001. 

Quotes: Theodore Roosevelt

"Far better it is to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure, than to take rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy much nor suffer much, because they live in the gray twilight that knows not victory nor defeat." 

–– Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919), American politician, conservationist, naturalist, writer, and American President (1901-9). 

via: Commonplace Book 1999-2001, 2001.

Quotes: George Nelson

"Unless ideas are massaged into reality they evaporate." 

–– George Nelson (1908-1986), American industrial designer

Quotes: Wrenn Slocum

"I believe so strongly in making conscious decisions about how to spend our finite lives. Maybe it comes from the years I worked in hospital intensive care units. On the night shift I often had the privilege of listening as people faced their approaching death. No one ever expressed regret about not spending enough time at the office, keeping their shower grout cleaner or watching more television." 

–– Wrenn Slocum, fibre artist 

Source: Complex Cloth email conversation between textile artists Wrenn Slocum and Barbara Tate 

via: Commonplace Book 1999-2001.

Quotes: Søren Kierkegaard

"Above all, do not lose your desire to walk: every day I walk myself into a state of well-being and walk away from every illness; I have walked myself into my best thoughts, and I know of no thought so burdensome that one cannot walk away from it ... but by sitting still, and the more one sits still, the closer one comes to feeling ill. ... Thus if one just keeps on walking, everything will be all right." 

–– Søren Kierkegaard (1813-1855), Danish theologian, philosopher, poet, and social critic 

Source: Søren Kierkegaard, letter to Jette (1847) 

via: Commonplace Book 1999-2001.

Quotes: Robert Kiyosaki

"Remember to dream big, think long-term, underachieve on a daily basis, and take baby steps. That is the key to long-term success." 

–– Robert Kiyosaki (b. 1947), Japanese-American finance author and entrepreneur 

via: Day In and Day Out Notebook, 2023, p. 50. 

Quotes: Greg McKeown

"The first action may be the tiniest, easiest-to-overlook thing. But it is surprisingly fierce." 

–– Greg McKeown (b. 1977), British-American writer, public speaker and business consultant 

Source: Greg McKeown. Effortless: Make It Easier to Do What Matters Most. New York: Currency, 2021; p. 111.

 via: Day In and Day Out Notebook, 2022, p. 43. 

Quotes: Nicholas Jennings re: Neil Peart

"Mastering his instrument was always Mr. Peart's mission. He continued studying, taking drum lessons late in life from percussion legends such as Freddie Gruber, wanting to learn more improvisational playing. He never stopped practicing. "My worst fear is not having a heart attack," he said in the 2016 documentary Time Stand Still, "but that I'm going to have one on stage and wreck the show. That's what makes you a professional. You don't go on stage with your frailties. Or your regrets or your resentments. Every night, you have to bring that commitment." 

–– Nicholas Jennings, Canadian music journalist & Neil Peart (1952-2020), Canadian drummer in the band Rush. 

Source: Jennings, Nicholas. Neil Peart, Musician, 67: "Rush's Drummer was one of the World's Best," The Globe and Mail, Saturday, January 18, 2020, p. B24. 

via: Day In and Day Out Notebook, 2020, p. 40-41.

Quotes: Barbara Pym

"The smaller things of life were often so much bigger than the great things ... the trivial pleasures like cooking, one's home, little poems especially sad ones, solitary walks, funny things seen and overheard." 

–– Barbara Pym (1913-1980), English novelist, Less Than Angels 

Source: Margot Gwalnick and Fan Winston. Remodelista: The Low Impact Home. New York: Artisan, 2022; p. 249.

via: Aboveground Art Supplies 2020 Knapsack Sketchbook, 2023, p. 26. 

Quotes: Jean-Luc Bannalec

"A smooth sea never made a skilled sailor." 

–– Breton proverb 

Source: Jean-Luc Bannalec. Death in Brittany. New York: Minotaur Books, 2012. 

via: Aboveground Art Supplies 2020 Knapsack Sketchbook, 2023, p. 25. 

Quotes: Chuck Close

"Inspiration is for amateurs; the rest of us just show up and get to work. If you wait around for the clouds to part and a bolt of lightning to strike you in the brain, you are not going to make an awful lot of work." 

–– Chuck Close (1940-2021), American visual artist 

Source: Adam Alter. Anatomy of a Breakthrough. Toronto: Simon & Shuster, 2023; p. xix.

via: Aboveground Art Supplies 2020 Knapsack Sketchbook, 2023, p. 25. 

Quotes: Terry Pratchett

"Coming back to where you started is not the same as never leaving." 

–– Terry Pratchett (1948-2015), English author, humorist, satirist 

Source: Kathy Reichs. Cold Cold Bones. Toronto, ON: Simon & Shuster, 2022; unpaginated.

via: Aboveground Art Supplies 2020 Knapsack Sketchbook, 2023, p. 24.

Quotes: David Bowie

"The only art I'll ever study is stuff that I can steal from." 

–– David Bowie (1947-2016), English musician and actor

Source: Austin Kleon. Steal Like an Artist. 2012, p. 6. 

via: Aboveground Art Supplies 2020 Knapsack Sketchbook, 2022, p. 13.

Quotes: Bertolt Brecht

"Crisis takes place when the old has not died and the new has still not been born." 

–– Bertolt Brecht (1898-1956), German poet, playwright, theatre practitioner 

Source: Nitch.com

via: Day In & Day Out Notebook, 2020, p. 39. 

Quotes: Albert Einstein

"Nothing happens until something moves."

–– Albert Einstein (1879-1955), German-born American theoretical physicist 

via: Day In & Day Out Notebook, 2018, p. 26.

Quotes: Wilt Chamberlain

"Everything is habit forming, so make sure what you do is what you want to be doing." 

–– Wilt Chamberlain (1936-1999), American basketball player 

Source: Nitch.com

via: Day In & Day Out Notebook, 2020, p. 39. 

Quotes: Gertrude Stein

"Strip everything away to the minimum. When you start over, leave only what is truly needed."

–– Gertrude Stein (1874-1946), American writer 

Source: Judy's Journal blog (Judy Martin), Monday November 25, 2019.

via: Day In & Day Out Notebook, 2020, p. 38. 

Quotes: Marcus Aurelius

"Do not act as if you had ten thousand years to live." 

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

Source: Marcus Aurelius. Meditations.

via: Day In & Day Out Notebook, 2020, p. 38. 

Quotes: Ben Hogan

"Every day you don't practice you're one day further from being good." 

–– Ben Hogan (1912-1997), American professional golfer 

Source: Twyla Tharp. The Creative Habit, p. 32. 

via: Day In & Day Out Notebook, 2020, p. 38. 

Quotes: Lance Letscher

""My work is really slow and repetitive. ... You have to go through almost excruciating boredom to be spontaneous and creative, to get to a place where the work really flows." For eight hours a day he combines experience and improvisation, As he described the process to an interviewer in 2004, "It is mysterious in a mundane way.""

–– Lance Letscher (b. 1962), American collage artist and Charles Dee Mitchell

Source: Lance Letscher Collage. Introduction by Charles Dee Mitchell. Austin, Texas: University of Texas Press, 2009, p. 6.

via: Day In & Day Out Notebook, 2019, p. 36. 

Quotes: Joan Didion

"I work every day. Sometimes I don't accomplish anything ... but if I don't work every day, I get depressed and get afraid to start again. So I do something every day."

–– Joan Didion (1934-2021), American writer  

Source: Nitch.com, 2020

via: Day In & Day Out Notebook, 2019, p. 37. 

Quotes: Gretchen Rubin

"What we do every day matters more than what we do once in a while." 

–– Gretchen Rubin (b. 1965), American author and speaker 

Source: Outer Order, Inner Calm. New York: Harmony Books, 2019, p. 155.

via: Day In & Day Out Notebook, 2019, p. 37. 

Quotes: Seneca

"Let us postpone nothing. Let us balance life's account every day. ... One who daily puts the finishing touches to his life is never in want of time."

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

Source: Seneca. Moral Letters to Lucilius via Ryder Carroll. The Bullet Journal Method.

via: Day In & Day Out Notebook, 2019, p. 36. 

Quotes: Ian Brown

"Ninety per cent of talent is confidence, an absence of judgement that feeds a willingness to fail that produces a greater likelihood of success." 

–– Ian Brown (b. 1954), Canadian journalist and author 

Source: Ian Brown. "Old skier, new tricks." The Globe and Mail, Saturday January 5, 2019, p.10-11; p. 11.

via: Day In & Day Out Notebook, 2019, p. 35. 

Quotes: Mary Oliver

"I think we're creative all day long. We have to have an appointment to have that work out on the page. Because the creative part of us gets tired of waiting, or just gets tired."

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

via: Day In & Day Out Notebook, 2019, p. 35 

Quotes: Marie Curie

"There is nothing in life to fear, just to understand." 

–– Marie Curie (1867-1934), Polish-born French physicist and chemist

Quotes: Meister Eckhart

"Wisdom consists in doing the next thing you have to do, doing it with your whole heart, and finding delight in doing it."

–– Meister Eckhart (1260-1328), German Catholic theologian, philosopher, and mystic 

via: Day In & Day Out Notebook, 2018, p. 33. 

Quotes: Rob Brezsny

"Here's another way to get on life's good side: cultivate duties that consistently encourage you to act out of love and joy rather than out of guilt and obligation." 

–– Rob Breszny, American astrologer, writer, and musician 

Source: Rob Brezsny. Free Will Astrology. January 13, 2019, Cancer.

via: Day In & Day Out Notebook, 2018, p. 32. 

Quotes: Mignon McLaughlin

"Every day of our lives we are on the verge of making those slight changes that would make all the difference." 

–– Mignon McLaughlin (1913-1983), American journalist and author 

via: Day In & Day Out Notebook, 2018, p. 27.

Quotes: Old adage

"Well begun is half done." 

–– Old adage

via: Day In & Day Out Notebook, 2018, p. 26.

Quotes: William Hutchinson Murray

"Until one is committed, there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back, always ineffectiveness. The moment one definitely commits oneself, then providence moves too." 

–– W. H. Murray (1913-1996), Scottish mountaineer, writer, and soldier 

via: Day In & Day Out Notebook, 2018, p. 25.

Quotes: Albert Einstein

"The world as we have created it is a process of our thinking. It cannot be changed without changing our thinking."

–– Albert Einstein (1879-1955), German-born American theoretical physicist 

via: Day In & Day Out Notebook, 2018, p. 25.

Quotes: Samuel Johnson

"Those who attain any excellence commonly spend life in one pursuit; for excellence is not often gained upon easier terms." 

–– Samuel Johnson (1709-1784), English author 

via: Day In & Day Out Notebook, 2018, p. 23.

Quotes: Rūmī

"If all you can do is crawl, start crawling."

–– Jalāl ad-Dīn Muhammad Rūmī (1207-1273), Persian poet and Sufi mystic; interpretation by Coleman Barks (b. 1937), American poet 

 via: Day In & Day Out Notebook, 2018, p. 23.

Quotes: Unknown

"Where the attention is, that becomes lively." 

–– unknown 

Source: David Lynch. Catching the Big Fish: Meditation, Consciousness, and Creativity. New York: Jeremy P. Tarcher/Penguin, 2006. 

via: Day In & Day Out Notebook, 2018, p. 21.

Quotes: Yo-Yo Ma

"It's actually not painful to learn something, if you do it incrementally." 

–– Yo-Yo Ma (b. 1955), French-born, American cellist 

via: Day In & Day Out Notebook, 2018, p. 21.

Quotes: Pearl S. Buck

"I don't wait for moods. You accomplish nothing if you do that. Your mind must know it has got to get down to work."

–– Pearl S. Buck (1892-1973), American writer 

Quotes: Anonymous

"The tragedy of life is not that it is so short... But that we take so long to begin living it." 

–– Anonymous 

via: Commonplace Book 1999-2001, 2001, unpaginated.

Quotes: Mother Teresa of Calcutta

"We must never be afraid to be a sign of contradiction for the world."

–– Mother Teresa of Calcutta (1910-1997), Albanian-born Indian Roman Catholic nun 

Quotes: Steve Martin

"Comedy is tragedy plus time." 

–– Steve Martin (b. 1945), American comedian, actor, musician and writer 

via: Striped notebook, 2016, p. 26.

Quotes: Tim Keller

"Aesthetics is a movement from the right brain to the left. Consequently, art is often a back door to the truth." 

–– Tim Keller (b. 1950), American pastor, theologian and author 

via: Striped notebook, 2016, p. 21.

Quotes: unknown

"Where you look is where you'll go." 

–– unknown

Quotes: Lynda Barry

"The phone gives us a lot but it takes away three key elements of discovery: loneliness, uncertainty and boredom. Those have always been where creative ideas come from." 

–– Lynda Barry (b. 1956), American cartoonist, author, educator 

Source: Austin Kleon tumblr, June 13, 2016. 

via: Striped notebook, 2016, p. 30.

Quotes: Beau Taplin

"The best thing about bravery is even a little is enough." 

–– Beau Taplin, Australian author

Source: Instagram: Flo and Frank 

via: Striped notebook, 2016, p. 20.

Quotes: unknown

"It doesn't matter how slowly you go, as long as you don't stop." 

–– unknown

Source: Instagram Flo and Frank

via: Striped notebook, 2016, p. 20.