"Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail."
–– Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882), American philosopher and writer
Source: Daily Philosopher, Instagram, September 25, 2024.
via: Sketchbook N 14, 2024, p. 25.
"Because we think in a fragmentary way, we see fragments. And this way of seeing leads us to make actual fragments of the world."
–– Susan Griffin (b. 1943), American radical feminist philosopher, essayist and playwright
Source: Gabor Maté. The Myth of Normal. Toronto: Alfred A. Knopf, 2022; p. 13.
via: Sketchbook N 14, 2004, p. 25.
"Everyone should carefully observe which way his heart draws him, and then choose that way with all his strength."
–– Hasidic saying
Source: Austin Kleon Instagram stories, Monday September 23, 2024.
via: Sketchbook N 14, 2004, p. 24.
"The invariable mark of wisdom is to see the miraculous in the common."
–– Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882), American philosopher and writer
via: Sketchbook N 14, 2004, p. 24.
"A collection of less than five to seven objects can be grasped as one thing, and the objects in it can be grasped as individuals. A collection of more than five to seven things is perceived as "many things." It may be true that the impression of a "sea of cars" first comes into being with about seven cars."
–– Christopher Alexander (1936-2022), Austrian-born British-American architect, author, and design theorist
Source: Christopher Alexander et. al. A Pattern Language. New York: Oxford University Press, 1977; p. 505.
via: Commonplace Book, 2024, p.11-12.
"I heard someone once say that grief is love that is homeless."
–– Anne Lamott (b. 1954), American writer
Source: Anne Lamott. Somehow: Thoughts on Love. New York: Random House, 2024; p. 170.
via: Commonplace Book 2024, p. 11.
"The act of writing is to me to listen. When I write, I never prepare, I don't plan anything, I proceed by listening. ... At a certain point I always get a feeling that the text has already been written, is out there somewhere, not inside me, and that I just need to write it down before the text disappears."
–– Jon Fosse (b. 1959), author, translator, playwright
Source: Austin Kleon blog July 26, 2024.
via: Commonplace Book 2024, p. 8.
"If we tell our children anything, it must be that fitting in is not what's important. It's what's easy. It's what's expected and so the opposite is frowned upon. We should tell them that it hurts not to belong and, as hard as it might be to hear, that hurt may not go away. It may grow and settle into a different, deeper kind of hurt, a pain that seeps and spreads and becomes a part of them. It's not sadness, exactly. Misfits can, and often are, happy, joyful, blissful people. ... There is power in difference. There is beauty."
–– Lidia Yuknavitch (b. 1963), American writer
Source: Lidia Yuknavitch. The Misfit's Manifesto. New York: TED Books (Simon & Schuster), 2017; p. 53-4.
via: Commonplace Book 2022, 2023, p. 75.
"You'll never get an A if you're always afraid of getting an F."
–– Anonymous
via: Commonplace Book 2022, 2023, p. 124.
"Big dreams don't come without big failures. Things will get tough and you will make mistakes. Repeatedly. We're human and we're going to flounder, but it's what you do to get back up that matters. If I allowed myself to stay in the downward swings, then I'd still be there. Similarly, if you miss the mark on your first try, don't give up. Success is a cumulative process; it's not a one-time event. When you're just starting out, it's one mess-up after another. Winning one, then losing the next. After a little while, the "mess-ups" turn into valuable experiences. The more opportunities you have to win, lose, or barely make, the more chances you'll have to convert those experiences into fuel. You don't learn as much just from winning or playing it safe."
–– Quincy Jones (b. 1933), American record producer, songwriter, composer, arranger, and film and television producer.
Source: Quincy Jones. 12 Notes on Life and Creativity. New York: Abrams Image, 2022; p. 127-8.
via: Commonplace Book 2022, 2023, p. 125.
"Let failure be your workshop. See it for what it is: the world walking you through a tough but necessary semester, free of tuition."
–– Steven Heighton (1961-2022), Canadian novelist, poet, short-story writer
Source: Steven Heighton. Work Book. Toronto, Ontario: ECW Press, 2011, p. 25.
via: Commonplace Book 2022, 2023, p.114.
"My sketchbooks are my warehouses of memory."
–– Pep Carrió, Spanish book cover designer
Source: Richard Brereton. Sketchbooks: The Hidden Art of Designers, Illustrators, and Creatives. London UK: Laurence King Publishing, 2009 (2012), p. 46.
via: Sketchbook N 14, 2024, p. 12.
"Practice is the best of all instructors."
–– Publius Syrus 1st century BC Syrian-born Latin writer
Source: Linda Trichler Metcalf and Tobin Simon. Writing the Mind Alive: The Proprioceptive Method for Finding Your Authentic Voice. New York: Ballantine Books, 2002, p. 156.
via: Sketchbook N 14, 2024, p. 22.
"The self-explorer, whether he wants to or not, becomes the explorer of everything else."
–– Elias Canetti (1905-1994), Bulgarian-born novelist
Source: Linda Trichler Metcalf and Tobin Simon. Writing the Mind Alive: The Proprioceptive Method for Finding Your Authentic Voice. New York: Ballantine Books, 2002, p. 1.
via: Sketchbook N 14, 2024, p. 22.
"Being an artist is much more like being a carpenter than like being God... What we do is a craft. I mean you can have a great inner talent and a lot of people do, but without craft it's very hard for the talent to emerge."
–– John Kander (b. 1927), American theatre composer
Source: Adam Moss. The Work of Art: How Something Comes From Nothing. New York: Penguin Press, 2024; p. 15.
via 2020 Aboveground Art Supplies Knapsack Sketchbook, 2024 p. 48.
"To work is to live without dying."
–– Rainer Maria Rilke (1875-1926), Bohemian-Austrian poet and novelist
Source: Deborah Levy. Real Estate: A Living Autobiography. Toronto, ON: Hamish Hamilton Canada, 2021; p. 169.
via: Commonplace Book 2022, 2022, p. 96.
"All writing is about seeing new things and investigating them. Sometimes it's about seeing new things in old ways."
–– Deborah Levy (b. 1959), South African-born, British novelist, playwright, and poet.
Source: Deborah Levy. Real Estate: A Living Autobiography. Toronto, ON: Hamish Hamilton Canada, 2021; p. 257.
via: Commonplace Book 2022, 2022, p. 96.
"The greater your desire to speak, the greater the danger that you'll say something stupid."
–– Leo Tolstoy (1828-1910), Russian writer
via: Sketchbook N 14, 2024, p. 15.
"It's necessity to confront your curiosity, confront the idea of mystery."
–– Terry Allen (b. 1943), American musician and visual artist
via: Sketchbook N 14, 2024, p. 21.
"People always equate goals to results, when actually process is the goal."
–– Gita Sjahrir, Indonesian entrepreneur
Source: Sukka Citta Instagram
via: Sketchbook N 14, 2024, p. 21.
"When a successful author analyzes the reasons for his success, he generally underestimates the talent he was born with, and overestimates his skill in employing it."
–– W.H. Auden (1907-1973), British-born American poet
Source: Adam Moss. The Work of Art: How Something Comes From Nothing. New York: Penguin Press, 2024; p. 15.
via 2020 Aboveground Art Supplies Knapsack Sketchbook, 2024 p. 48.
"In a society which emphasizes teaching, children and students –– and adults –– become passive and unable to think or act for themselves. Creative, active individuals can only grow up in a society which emphasizes learning instead of teaching."
–– Christopher Alexander (1936-2022), Austrian-born British-American architect, author, and design theorist
Source: Christopher Alexander et. al. A Pattern Language. New York: Oxford University Press, 1977; p. 100.
via: Commonplace Book, 2024, p.11.
"Curiosity leads to wonder and wonder is a cousin to love. Wonder is why we're here."
–– Anne Lamott (b. 1954), American writer
Source: Anne Lamott. Somehow: Thoughts on Love. New York: Random House, 2024; p. 171.
via: Commonplace Book 2024, p. 11.
"The truth will set you free, but first it will piss you off!
–– Gloria Steinem (b. 1934), American writer and journalist
via: Sketchbook N 14, 2024, p. 15.
"What a story is "about" is to be found in the curiosity it creates in us, which is a form of caring."
–– George Saunders (b. 1958), American writer
Source: Mellisa Sweet illustration on Instagram, found Wednesday August 28, 2024.
via: Sketchbook N 14, 2024, p. 15.
"I hope there's mystery and poetry in your life –– not even poems, but patterns. I hope you can see them. Often these patterns will wake you up, and you will know that you are alive, again and again."
–– Eileen Myles (b. 1949), American writer, poet, performer
Source: Valedictory words by Eileen Myles via Austin Kleon newsletter, August 23, 2024.
via: Sketchbook N 14, 2024, p. 9.
"Time is tricky. You have whole months, even years, when nothing changes a speck, when you don't go anywhere or do anything or think one new thought. And then you get hit with a day, or an hour, or half a second when so much happens it's almost like you got born all over again into some brand-new person you for damn sure never expected to meet."
–– E. R. Frank, American fiction writer social worker, and psychotherapist
Source: E.R. Frank, Life is Funny, 2000; via Words of Women August 19, 2024, Instagram
via: Sketchbook N 14, 2024, p. 1.
"Art is a collaboration between God and the artist, and the less the artist does the better."
–– André Gide (1869-1951), French writer
Source: Adam Moss. The Work of Art: How Something Comes From Nothing. New York: Penguin Press, 2024; p. 11.
via 2020 Aboveground Art Supplies Knapsack Sketchbook, 2024 p. 47.
