Quotes: Songezo Zantsi

"I close my [studio] day with a process I've come to enjoy over the years, creating small works that allow me to play outside my usual medium of oil painting. It's my way of experimenting with materials I'm not typically known for, such as polish and calamine, and working on different surfaces such as wood, paper or canvas. I also explore using watercolours, oil pastels and soft pastels. These pieces are more about embracing mistakes and letting go of the day's creative energy. I don't judge myself when creating these works; they're a space to experiment and release any built-up tension. If one of these works sparks more interest or inspiration overnight, I'll revisit it the next morning, but in the moment, it's just about letting go and playing." 

–– Songezo Zantsi (b. 1991), South African visual artist

Source: House and Leisure South Africa, Autumn 2025, Digest/Studio visits, Songezo Zantsi, p. 229. 

via: Sketchbook U 21, 2025, p. 8-9. 

Quotes: Frank Wilczek

"If you don't make mistakes, you're not working on hard enough problems. And that's a big mistake." 

–– Frank Wilczek (b. 1951), American theoretical physicist and mathematician

via: Commonplace Book 2006-2009, 2009, p. 176. 

Quotes: Miles Davis

"Do not fear mistakes, there are none."

–– Miles Davis (1926-1991), American musician, bandleader, and composer 

via: Commonplace Book 2024, p. 28.

Quotes: Quincy Jones

"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.

Quotes: James Joyce

"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.

Quotes: George Bernard Shaw

"A life spent in making mistakes is not only more honourable, but useful than a life spent doing nothing."

–– George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950), Irish playwright, critic, and social activist 

via: Commonplace Book, 2022, 2022, p. 31.

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.

Quotes: Richard Diebenkorn

Notes to myself on beginning a painting by Richard Diebenkorn

1. Attempt what is not certain. Certainty may or may not come later. It may then be a valuable delusion.

2. The pretty, initial position which falls short of completeness is not to be valued – except as a stimulus for further moves.

3. Do search. But in order to find other than what is searched for.

4. Use and respond to the initial fresh qualities but consider them expendable.

5. Don't "discover" a subject – of any kind.

6. Somehow don't be bored but if you must, use it in action. Use its destructive potential.

7. Mistakes can't be erased but they move you from your present position.

8. Keep thinking about Pollyanna.

9. Tolerate chaos.

10. Be careful only in a perverse way. 

–– Richard Diebenkorn (1922-1993), American painter and printmaker

Source: Lari Washburn, Instagram, Thursday February 8, 2024.

via: Sketchbook 33, 2024, p. 146.

Quotes: Yina Ilori

"There is no design rule book. We all create differently; I like to make mistakes and don't seek perfection." 

–– Yinka Ilori (b. 1987), British-Nigerian designer 

Source: Living Etc. UK, August 2020, p. 104. 

via: Sketchbook 33, 2024, p. 115.

Quotes: Neil Gaiman

"I hope that in this year to come, you make mistakes. Because if you are making mistakes, then you are making new things, trying new things, learning, living, pushing yourself, changing yourself, changing your world. You're doing things you've never done before, and more importantly, you're doing something. So that's my wish... Don't freeze, don't stop, don't worry that it isn't good enough, or it isn't perfect, whatever it is: art or love, or work or family or live. Whatever it is you're scared of doing, do it. Make your mistakes, next year and forever."

–– Neil Gaiman (b. 1960), British author and screenwriter 

Source: Nitch, December 24, 2019.

via: Art Alternatives Knapsack Sketchbook J 2020-2023, 2022, p. 26.

Quotes: W. S. Merwin

"I needed my mistakes in their own order to get me here." 

–– W. S. (William Stanley) Merwin (1927-2019), American poet

Source: W. S. Merwin, from "Wild Oats" in The Moon Before Morning via Artpropelled.

via: Art Alternatives Knapsack Sketchbook 2017-2018 d, 2017, p. 20. 

Quotes: Neil Gaiman

"Make new mistakes. Make glorious, amazing mistakes. Make mistakes nobody's ever made before."  

–– Neil Gaiman (b. 1960), British author and screenwriter 

via: Sketchbook 32, 2022, p. 18.

Quotes: Joseph Chilton Pearce

"To live a creative life, we must lose our fear of being wrong." 

–– Joseph Chilton Pearce (1926-2016), American author, lecturer 

via: Sketchbook 27, 2015, p. 116.

Quotes: Helen Frankenthaler

"Let mistakes lead to invention."

–– Helen Frankenthaler (1928-2011), American abstract expressionist painter 

via: Jayne Emerson Textiles on Instagram, September 20, 2022

Quotes: Thomas Edison

"I make more mistakes than anyone else I know, and sooner or later, I patent most of them." 

–– Thomas Edison (1847-1931), American inventor and businessman 

via Sketchbook 21, 2013, p. 56

Quotes: Monica Förster

"The computer is a tool; I can't do without it. But the nice thing about making models is that in the process of doing, I'm more open to mistakes – maybe I put the tape in a way that I don't intend, but it shows a new possibility. In a computer everything is perfect. When I make models, it's intuitive and rough: I take a flat piece of paper, I cut it, I tape it. It's very quick. I find it very refreshing." 
–– Monica Förster (b. 1966), Stockholm furniture designer

Source: May 2011 Dwell magazine, page 52. http://monicaforster.se/ 

via: Sketchbook 15, 2011, p. 28

Creativity quotes: Keri Smith

"when it gets right down to it the individuals that are really doing interesting things and changing the world don't seem to [be] paying much attention to the cutting edge technologies. they're too busy conducting experiments, spending time alone, making mistakes, dreaming up new ideas, sitting in the midst of uncertainty...embracing mystery." 

–– Keri Smith (b. 1975), Canadian author, illustrator and Conceptual artist

Via: from her August 5, 2009 blog post 

Creativity quotes: Scott Adams

"Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes. Art is knowing which ones to keep." 

–– Scott Adams (b. 1957), American writer & cartoonist 

Source: The Dilbert Principle

Black History quotes: Thelonious Monk

"I made the wrong mistakes."

–– Thelonious Monk (1917-1982), American jazz pianist and composer

Quotes 347: Salvador Dalí

"Mistakes are almost always of a sacred nature. Never try to correct them. On the contrary, rationalize them, understand them thoroughly." 

–– Salvador Dalí (1904-1989), Spanish artist 

via Sketchbook 10, 2010, p. 11