Thursday 16 May 2024
Quotes: Jacqueline Winspear
Wednesday 15 May 2024
Quotes: George Bernard Shaw
"A life spent in making mistakes is not only more honourable, but useful than a life spent doing nothing."
Tuesday 14 May 2024
Quotes: Greg McKeown
"When our brains are at full capacity, everything feels harder: fatigue slows us down. Outdated assumptions and emotions make new information harder to process. The countless distractions of daily life make it difficult to see what matters clearly.
"So the first step toward making things more effortless is to clear the clutter in our heads and our hearts."
–– 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. 15. via: Commonplace Book 2022, 2022, p. 19.
Monday 13 May 2024
Quotes: Vincent van Gogh
"Great things are done by a series of small things brought together."
–– Vincent van Gogh (1853-1890), Dutch Post-Impressionist painter
via: Commonplace Book, 2022, 2022, p. 6.
Sunday 12 May 2024
Quotes: Japanese proverb
Saturday 11 May 2024
Quotes: Steven Heighton
"In the long run, curiosity and stamina trump talent."
–– 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. 113.
Friday 10 May 2024
Quotes: Ausma Zehanat Khan
"Don't look back. There's nothing left for you in Syria.
"It was advice he couldn't have followed. A homeland was a place of the heart, a place of memory and belonging. To lose it, to leave, to watch it dissolve into agony, to be coerced into exile –– it was a severing of self."
–– Ausma Zehanat Khan, Canadian-American writer
Source: Ausma Zehanat Khan. A Dangerous Crossing. New York: Minotaur Books, 2018, p. 324.
via: Commonplace Book 2002, 2024, p. 139.
Thursday 9 May 2024
Quotes: Oliver Burkeman
"The psychology professor Robert Boice spent his career studying the writing habits of his fellow academics, reaching the conclusion that the most productive and successful among them generally made writing a smaller part of their daily routine than the others, so that it was much more feasible to keep going with it day after day. They cultivated the patience to tolerate the fact that they probably wouldn't be producing very much on any individual day, with the result that they produced much more over the long term. They wrote in daily sessions –– sometimes as short as ten minutes, and never longer than four hours –– and they religiously took weekends off."
–– Oliver Burkeman (b. 1975), British author and journalist
Source: Oliver Burkeman. Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals. New York: Allen Lane/Penguin Random House, 2021, p.181.
via: Commonplace Book, 2022, 2024, p. 140.
Wednesday 8 May 2024
Quotes: Pema Chödrön
"Someone gave me a quote from James Joyce's Ulysses, where Joyce wrote about how failure can lead to discovery. And he actually didn't use the word "failure"; he used the word "mistake," as in making a mistake. He said that mistakes can be the portals of discovery.
"In other words, mistakes are the portal to creativity, to learning something new, to having a fresh look on things."
–– Pema Chödrön (b. 1936), American Buddhist nun and author
Source: Pema Chödrön. Fail, Fail Again, Fail Better. Boulder, Colorado: Sounds True, 2015, p. 45.
via: Commonplace Book 2022, 2024, p. 151.
Tuesday 7 May 2024
Quotes: Lao Tzu
"Do the difficult things while they are easy and do the great things while they are small. A journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step."
Monday 6 May 2024
Quotes: Doris Lessing
"What I did have, which others perhaps didn't, was a capacity for sticking at it, which really is the point, not the talent at all. You have to stick at it."
–– Doris Lessing (1919-2013), Iranian born British-Zimbabwean novelist
Sunday 5 May 2024
Quotes: Audre Lorde
"Our feelings are our most genuine paths to knowledge."
–– Audre Lorde (1934-1992), American writer, feminist, civil rights activist and a self-described "black, lesbian, mother, warrior, poet."
Saturday 4 May 2024
Quotes: Joan Baez
"Action is the antidote to despair."
–– Joan Baez (b. 1941), American singer, songwriter, musician and activist
Friday 3 May 2024
Quotes: William James
"My experience is what I agree to attend to. Only those items which I notice shape my mind – without selective interest, experience is an utter chaos."
–– William James (1842-1910), American psychologist and philosopher
Thursday 2 May 2024
Quotes: Seneca
"The things you run from are inside you."
–– Seneca (4 BC - AD 65), Roman Stoic philosopher, dramatist, statesman
Wednesday 1 May 2024
Quotes: Nelson Mandela
"Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us.
We ask ourselves, "Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented and fabulous?" Actually, who are you not to be? ... Your playing small does not serve the world. There's nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you.
And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people 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
Source: Nelson Mandela 1994 inaugural speech, South Africa
via: Commonplace Book 1999-2001, 2002.
Tuesday 30 April 2024
Quotes: Yohji Yamamoto
"Creation is lifework, creation is how ... you spend your life, you cannot divide life and the creation, it's impossible. Shut your eyes, close your ears, don't use your brain, use your heart, your soul."
–– Yohji Yamamoto (b. 1943), Japanese fashion designer
Monday 29 April 2024
Quotes: Helen Frankenthaler
"There are no rules. That is how art is born, how breakthroughs happen. Go against the rules or ignore the rules. That is what invention is about."
–– Helen Frankenthaler (1928-2011), American abstract expressionist painter
Sunday 28 April 2024
Quotes: Ali Stroker
"As actors, we feel like we have to be ready, but I'd say you're never ready. You're not prepared for something you've never done before, so let go of that. This past year I did some symphony gigs for the first time, and it was incredible. It was better than being ready, because I just had to be new."
–– Ali Stroker (b. 1987), American author, actress, singer
Source: New York Times T Style Magazine, Sunday April 21, 2024, p. 56.
Saturday 27 April 2024
Quote: Aatish Taseer
"And this is what we tend to forget: In the careers of certain artists, those who make big, varied bodies of work in which different strands of their experience are subsumed, the business of beginning, and beginning again, never ceases. Each new beginning brings with it all the uncertainty and blankness of the first. Experience might protect such an artist from forcing what's clearly not working, but that core anxiety of not knowing if one will create again always remains. "Do not worry," Hemingway would console himself, "you have always written before and you will write now."
–– Aatish Taseer (b. 1980), British-born American writer and journalist
Source: Aatish Taseer. 'The First Stroke.' New York Times T Style Magazine, Sunday April 21, 2024, p. 53.
via: Art Alternatives Knapsack Sketchbook L 2024, p. 15.
Friday 26 April 2024
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.
Thursday 25 April 2024
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.
Wednesday 24 April 2024
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.
Tuesday 23 April 2024
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.
Monday 22 April 2024
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.
Sunday 21 April 2024
Quotes: Emily Dickinson
"No is the widest word we consign to language."
–– Emily Dickinson (1830-1886), American poet
via: Commonplace Book 1999-2001, 2002.
Saturday 20 April 2024
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.
Friday 19 April 2024
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.
Thursday 18 April 2024
Quotes: Mary Oliver
"The patterns of our lives reveal us. Our habits measure us."
–– Mary Oliver (1935-2019), American poet
Wednesday 17 April 2024
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
Tuesday 16 April 2024
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.
Monday 15 April 2024
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.
Sunday 14 April 2024
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.
Saturday 13 April 2024
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.
Friday 12 April 2024
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.
Thursday 11 April 2024
Quotes: Tom Blachford
Wednesday 10 April 2024
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
Tuesday 9 April 2024
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.
Monday 8 April 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
Sunday 7 April 2024
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.
Saturday 6 April 2024
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.
Friday 5 April 2024
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.
Thursday 4 April 2024
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.
Wednesday 3 April 2024
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.
Tuesday 2 April 2024
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.
Monday 1 April 2024
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.
Sunday 31 March 2024
Quotes: Duke Ellington
Saturday 30 March 2024
Quotes: Iris Apfel
"You don't find out who you are unless you work at it."
Friday 29 March 2024
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.
Thursday 28 March 2024
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.
Wednesday 27 March 2024
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.
Tuesday 26 March 2024
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.
Monday 25 March 2024
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.
Sunday 24 March 2024
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.
Saturday 23 March 2024
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.
Friday 22 March 2024
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.
Thursday 21 March 2024
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.
Wednesday 20 March 2024
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.
Tuesday 19 March 2024
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.
Monday 18 March 2024
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.
Sunday 17 March 2024
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.
Saturday 16 March 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.
Friday 15 March 2024
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
Thursday 14 March 2024
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.
Wednesday 13 March 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.
Tuesday 12 March 2024
Quotes: Carl Jung
"Where your fear is, there your task is."
–– Carl Jung (1875-1961), Swiss psychiatrist and psychologist
Monday 11 March 2024
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.
Sunday 10 March 2024
Quotes: Teju Cole
"Be the strange you wish to see in the world."
–– Teju Cole (b. 1975), Nigerian-American novelist and photographer
Saturday 9 March 2024
Quotes: Richard Diebenkorn
Friday 8 March 2024
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
Thursday 7 March 2024
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).
Wednesday 6 March 2024
Quotes: Iris Apfel
Tuesday 5 March 2024
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.
Monday 4 March 2024
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.
Sunday 3 March 2024
Quotes: Gertraude Beese
"A life without dreams is like a garden without flowers."
–– Gertraude Beese
via: Commonplace Book 1999-2001, 2001.
Saturday 2 March 2024
Quotes: Duke Ellington
Friday 1 March 2024
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.
Thursday 29 February 2024
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.
Wednesday 28 February 2024
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
Tuesday 27 February 2024
Quotes: Pericles of Athens
Monday 26 February 2024
Quotes: Yina Ilori
Sunday 25 February 2024
Quotes: Unknown
"You will never leave where you are until you decide where you want to be."
–– Unknown
via: Commonplace Book 1999-2001, 2001.
Saturday 24 February 2024
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.
Friday 23 February 2024
Quotes: Tom Bodett
Thursday 22 February 2024
Quotes: Unknown
Wednesday 21 February 2024
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.
Tuesday 20 February 2024
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.
Monday 19 February 2024
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.
Sunday 18 February 2024
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.
Saturday 17 February 2024
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.
Friday 16 February 2024
Quotes: Brad Smith
Thursday 15 February 2024
Quotes: Allan C. Somersall
Wednesday 14 February 2024
Quotes: Tracy Kidder
Tuesday 13 February 2024
Quotes: Theodore Roosevelt
Monday 12 February 2024
Quotes: George Nelson
Sunday 11 February 2024
Quotes: Wrenn Slocum
Saturday 10 February 2024
Quotes: Søren Kierkegaard
Friday 9 February 2024
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.
Thursday 8 February 2024
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.
Wednesday 7 February 2024
Quotes: Nicholas Jennings re: Neil Peart
Tuesday 6 February 2024
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.
Monday 5 February 2024
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.
Sunday 4 February 2024
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.
Saturday 3 February 2024
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.
Friday 2 February 2024
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.
Thursday 1 February 2024
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.
Wednesday 31 January 2024
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.
Tuesday 30 January 2024
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.
Monday 29 January 2024
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.
Sunday 28 January 2024
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.
Saturday 27 January 2024
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.
Friday 26 January 2024
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.
Thursday 25 January 2024
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.
Wednesday 24 January 2024
Quotes: Gretchen Rubin
Tuesday 23 January 2024
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.
Monday 22 January 2024
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.
Sunday 21 January 2024
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."
Saturday 20 January 2024
Quotes: Marie Curie
"There is nothing in life to fear, just to understand."
–– Marie Curie (1867-1934), Polish-born French physicist and chemist
Friday 19 January 2024
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.
Thursday 18 January 2024
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.
Wednesday 17 January 2024
Quotes: Mignon McLaughlin
Tuesday 16 January 2024
Quotes: Old adage
"Well begun is half done."
–– Old adage
via: Day In & Day Out Notebook, 2018, p. 26.
Monday 15 January 2024
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.
Sunday 14 January 2024
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.
Saturday 13 January 2024
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.
Friday 12 January 2024
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.
Thursday 11 January 2024
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.
Wednesday 10 January 2024
Quotes: Yo-Yo Ma
Tuesday 9 January 2024
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
Monday 8 January 2024
Quotes: Anonymous
Sunday 7 January 2024
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
Saturday 6 January 2024
Quotes: Steve Martin
Friday 5 January 2024
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.
Thursday 4 January 2024
Wednesday 3 January 2024
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.