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.