Quotes: Laurie Anderson

"When young artists ask, "How can I get past [creative blocks]? I respond: "For one thing, try doing your worst work. Do the worst song you can possibly think of. At the very least, you'll get some idea of what your rules are. At the most, you're going to get something that's better than anything you've every done because it has a lot of pure energy." Just make it bad. Just make it really bad. You know, so pure and bad."

–– Laurie Anderson (b. 1947), American musician and multidisciplinary artist 

Source: Laurie Anderson conversation with Brandon Stosuy, November 14, 2016, The Creative Independent (thecreativeindependent.com) 

via: Commonplace Book 2024, p. 25-26.

Quotes: John Durham Peters

"Write early in the morning, cultivate memory, reread core books, take detailed reading notes, work on several projects at once, maintain a thick archive, rotate crops, take a weekly Sabbath, go to bed at the same time, exercise so hard you can't think during it, talk to different kinds of people including the very young and very old, take words and their histories seriously (i.e., read dictionaries), step outside the empire of the English language regularly, look for vocabulary from other fields, love the basic, keep your antennae tuned, and seek out contexts of understanding quickly (i.e., used guides, encyclopedias, and Wikipedia without guilt)." 

–– John Durham Peters (b. 1958), American historian, social theorist, professor, and author 

Source: John Durham Peters in an interview with the Los Angeles Review of Books via Submitted For Your Perusal, weblog July 14, 2015 via Austin Kleon newsletter June 21, 2024. 

via: Sketchbook L, 2024, p. 35-36. 

Quotes: Charlie Munger

"The safest way to try to get what you want is to try and deserve what you want." 

–– Charlie Munger (1924-2023), American philanthropist, investor, and businessman 

Source: Ian McGugan. "Five investing lessons from the billionaire investor Charlie Munger. The Globe and Mail. Saturday December 2, 2023; p. B10.

Quotes: Susan O'Malley

"The harder road is the one that makes you." 

–– Susan O'Malley (1976-2015), American artist and curator

Source: Susan O'Malley. Advice from my 80 Year Old Self. 2016.

via: Striped notebook, 2016, p. 20. 

Quotes: Charlie Munger

Advice about how to achieve success: "You spend less than you earn, invest shrewdly and avoid toxic people and toxic activities, and try to keep learning all your life." 

–– Charlie Munger (1924-2023), American philanthropist, investor, and businessman 

Source: Ian McGugan. "Five investing lessons from the billionaire investor Charlie Munger. The Globe and Mail. Saturday December 2, 2023; p. B10.

Quotes: Rob Breszny

"Cut away any last residues of trivial desires and frivolous ambitions. Hone your focus and streamline your self-discipline. Once and for all, withdraw your precious energy from activities that waste your time and resist your full engagement."

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

Source: Rob Breszny. Free Will Astrology. Scorpio. June 25, 2015. 

via: Sketchbook A (oatmeal), 2015, p. 9

Quotes: Doug Suisman

"Travel, experience, observe, draw. Creative urban design doesn't emerge from books or from the mind." 

–– Doug Suisman (b. 1955), American urban designer and architect 

via: Sketchbook 21, 2013, p. 120