"An inventuring* life finds aliveness at the edges of discovery and growth. The purpose of life is, then, to grow."
–– Richard J. Leider, American life coach and author
*Inventure n. new or original invention, discovery, or idea; v. to create something new or innovative
Source: Leider, Richard J. and David A. Shapiro. Repacking Your Bags: Lighten Your Load for the Rest of Your Life. San Francisco: Berrett-Koehler Publishers, 1995; p. 87.
via: Commonplace Book 2006-2009, 2007, p. 77.
"Those moments in our lives when a new question rises up in us, stops us in our tracks, are pivot points. They are openings for discovery and new possibility to break in."
–– Krista Tippett (b. 1960), American journalist, author, and entrepreneur
Source: Jeff Karp. LIT: Use Nature's Playbook to Energize Your Brain, Spark Ideas, and Ignite Action. New York: William Morrow, 2024; p. 22.
via: Commonplace Book 2024, 2024, p. 60.
"When you are face to face with a difficulty, you are up against a discovery."
–– William Thomson, 1st Baron Kelvin (Lord Kelvin) (1824-1907), British mathematician, mathematical physicist, and engineer
Source: Ann-Marie MacDonald. Fayne. Toronto: Alfred A. Knopf Canada, 2022; p. 589.
via: Sketchbook M 13, 2024, p. 6.
"Mistakes are the portals of discovery."
–– James Joyce (1882-1941), Irish novelist, poet, and literary critic
via 2020 Aboveground Art Supplies Knapsack Sketchbook, 2024 p. 47.
"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.
"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.
"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.
"Being an artist is about discovering things after you've done them. Like Cézanne – after twenty years of that mountain he found out what he was doing. If it isn't a process of discovery, it shows. I'm in it for the long haul."
–– Kenneth Noland (1924-2010), American painter
Source: Sarah Boyts Yoder Life and Limb on Tumblr
via: Art Alternatives Knapsack Sketchbook 2017-2018 d, 2017, p. 24.
"In the most successful spaces, you don't see everything at once. The more time you spend in them, the more you discover. They open up like flowers."
–– Vicente Wolfe (born in the 1950s), Cuban-born American interior designer
via: Sketchbook 28, 2015, p. 12.
"One doesn't discover new lands without consenting to lose sight of the shore for a very long time."
–– André Gide (1869-1951), French writer
via: Sketchbook 23, 2014, p. 38.
"I like it when one is not certain what one sees. When we do not know why the photographer has taken a picture and when we do not know why we are looking at it, all of a sudden we discover something. We start seeing."
–– Saul Leiter (1923-2013) American photographer and painter
"Discoveries and inventions arise from the observation of little things."
–– Alexander Graham Bell (1847-1922), Scottish-born (with ties to Canada and the United States), inventor, scientist and engineer
Source: National Geographic, January 1988, Vol 173, No. 1, p. 11
via Sketchbook 13, 2011, p. 143
"The voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes."
–– Marcel Proust (1871-1922), French writer and critic
via Sketchbook 11, 2010, p. 22
"The greatest obstacle to discovery is not ignorance –– it is the illusion of knowledge."
–– Daniel Boorstin (1914-2004), American historian and writer
via Sketchbook 10, 2010, p. 8
