Quotes: Claire McMillan

"I've been thinking about ritual," I said, handing her a book by Gurdjeff, who we'd recently discovered was a shared favourite. "That's all any ritual or ceremony is trying to do, to make manifest in the material world an intangible shift in spirit. So I've been thinking that anything can become ritual, painting, or writing, or cooking or making a bed. All of it transforms, makes clean. Making dinner, alchemizes disparate things into a whole. I feel like I am always transmuting things. Always changing them. All day long."

–– Claire McMillan, American author 

Source: Claire McMillan. Alchemy of a Blackbird. Toronto: Atria Books (Simon and Schuster), 2023; p. 165. 

via: Commonplace Book 2024, 2025, p. 35. 

Quotes: Claire McMillan

"Despite her exhaustion, Remedios felt the energy of novelty. The trees were different here, the streets, the smells; it enlivened her. She'd been forced into change for so long now that it felt comforting, even as she landed in a new country with nothing but a suitcase."

–– Claire McMillan, American author 

Source: Claire McMillan. Alchemy of a Blackbird. Toronto: Atria Books (Simon and Schuster), 2023; p. 132. 

via: Commonplace Book 2024, 2025, p. 35. 

Quotes: Anne Lamott

"The best way to change the world is to change your mind, which often requires feeding yourself. It makes for biochemical peace. It's almost like a prayer: to be needy, to eat, to taste, to be filled, building up instead of tearing down. You find energy to do something you hadn't expected to do, maybe even one of the holiest things: to go outside and stand under the stars, or to go for a walk in the morning, or in such hard times, both."

–– Anne Lamott (b. 1954), American writer 

Source: Anne Lamott. Grace (Eventually): Thoughts on Faith. New York: Riverhead Books (Penguin Group), 2007; p. 252-253. 

via: Commonplace Book 2006-2009, 2007, p. 93.

Quotes: Euripides

"There is in the worst of failure the best chances for a happy change." 

–– Euripides (c. 480-406 B.C.), Greek playwright

via: Commonplace Book 2006-2009, 2007, p. 88.

Quotes: Eric Booth

"We are shaped by what we extend ourselves into; our attending and our participation inform our lives. We must be very careful with the objects and actions we present to ourselves and to our children because we are changed by them."

–– Eric Booth, American actor, teacher, and author 

Source: Eric Booth. The Everyday Work of Art. Naperville, Illinois: Sourcebooks, 1997; p. 24.

via: Commonplace Book 2006-2009, 2009, p. 186.  

Quotes: Carl Jung

 "We cannot change anything unless we accept it."

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

Source: Oliver Burkeman. Meditations for Mortals. Toronto: Allen Lane/Penguin Random House Canada, 2024; p. 60. 

via: Commonplace Book 2024, 2025, p. 34.

Quotes: Darren Hardy

"You will never change your life until you change something you do daily. The secret of your success is found in your daily routine."

–– Darren Hardy (b. 1971), American author and publisher 

Quotes: Charles Duhigg

"Small wins are exactly what they sound like, and are part of how keystone habits create widespread changes. A huge body of research has shown that small wins have enormous power, an influence disproportionate to the accomplishments of the victories themselves. "Small wins are a steady application of a small advantage, one Cornell professor [Karl E. Weick] wrote in 1984. "Once a small win has been accomplished, forces are set in motion that favour another small win." Small wins fuel transformative changes by leveraging tiny advantages into patterns that convince people that bigger achievements are within reach." 

–– Charles Duhigg (b. 1974), American journalist and non-fiction author

Source: Charles Duhigg. The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business. Toronto: Doubleday Canada, 2012; p. 112.

via Commonplace Book 2013-2014, 2013, p. 18. 

Quotes: Marcus Aurelius

"Everything is born from change." 

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

Source: dailystoic, Instagram, November 21, 2024.

via: Sketchbook N 14, 2024, p. 39. 

Quotes: Santosh Kalwar

"We are addicted to our thoughts. We cannot change anything if we cannot change our thinking." 

–– Santosh Kalwar (b. 1982), Nepalese poet, writer, researcher 

via: Sketchbook N 14, 2024, p. 35.

Quotes: Grace Lee Boggs

"To make a revolution, people must not only struggle against existing institutions. They must make a philosophical/spiritual leap and become more "human" human beings. In order to change/transform the world, they must change/transform themselves."

–– Grace Lee Boggs (1915-2015), American writer, philosopher, social activist and feminist 

via: Sketchbook N 14, 2024, p. 30. 

Quotes: Edith Wharton

"In spite of illness, in spite even of the arch-enemy sorrow, one can remain alive long past the usual date of disintegration if one is unafraid of change, insatiable in intellectual curiosity, interested in big things, and happy in small ways." 

–– Edith Wharton (1862-1937), American writer and designer 

Source: Austin Kleon newsletter October 25, 2024.

via: Sketchbook O 15, 2024, p. 18.

Quotes: Anatole France

"All changes, even the most longed for, have their melancholy; for what we leave is a part of ourselves; we must die to one life before we can enter another."

–– Anatole France (1844-1924), French novelist, poet, and journalist 

Source: Nathan James Ward, Instagram, October 2, 2024.

via: Sketchbook  O #15, 2024, p. 7. 

Quotes: Frida Kahlo

"Nothing is absolute. Everything changes, everything moves, everything revolves, everything flies and goes away."

–– Frida Kahlo (1907-1954), Mexican painter 

Source: Nitch, Instagram, October 5, 2024. 

via: Sketchbook  O #15, 2024, p. 7.

Quotes: Nan Goldin

"My work changes as I change. I feel an artist's work has to change, otherwise you become a replication of yourself." 

–– Nan Goldin (b. 1953), American photographer and activist 

Source: Female Poets Society, Instagram, October 7, 2024. 

via: Sketchbook 0 15, 2024, p. 7. 

Quotes: Leo Buscaglia

"Change is the end result of all true learning." 

–– Leo Buscaglia (1924-1998), American writer, professor, and motivational speaker 

via: Sketchbook N 14, 2024, p. 21.

Quotes: E. R. Frank

"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.

Quotes: Aristotle

"Change in all things is sweet."

–– Aristotle (384-322 B.C.), Greek philosopher 

via: Sketchbook L 2024, p. 3.

Quotes: Paul Arden

"The world is what you think of it. So think of it differently and your life will change." 

–– Paul Arden (1940-2008), British creative director and author

Source: Paul Arden. Whatever You Think, Think the Opposite. New York: Penguin, 2006; p. 136. 

via: Commonplace Book 2022, 2024, p. 188.

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.