Quotes: Marcus Aurelius

"The impediment to action advances action. What stands in the way becomes the way." 

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

via: Sketchbook O 15, 2024, p. 21.

Quotes: Robert Brault

"We are kept from our goal not by obstacles, but by a clear path to a lesser goal." 

–– Robert Brault, American writer 

Source: Benjamin Hardy. Be Your Future Self Now. New York: Hay House, 2022; p. 25.

via: Aboveground Art Supplies Knapsack Sketchbook 2020, 2024, p. 33. 

Quotes: Agnes Martin

"It is through discipline and tremendous disappointment and failure that you arrive at what it is you must paint." 

–– Agnes Martin (1912-2004), Canadian-born American abstract painter 

via: Anvil Knapsack Sketchbook 2017, p. 30.

Quotes: Franz Kafka

"The thornbush is the old obstacle in the road. It must catch fire if you want to go further." 

–– Franz Kafka (1883-1924), Bohemian-born writer 

via: Sketchbook 30, 2017, p. 15.

Quotes: Richard Rogers

"The problem about art is not finding more freedom, it's about finding obstacles." 

–– Richard Rogers (1933-2021), British architect

via Sketchbook 19, 2012, p. 23

Women's quotes: Margaret Atwood

"Water does not resist. Water flows. When you plunge your hand into it, all you feel is a caress. Water is not a solid wall, it will not stop you. But water always goes where it wants to go, and nothing in the end can stand against it. Water is patient. Dripping water wears away a stone. Remember that, my child. Remember you are half water. If you can't go through an obstacle, go around it. Water does." 

–– Margaret Atwood (b. 1939), Canadian writer, environmental activist and inventor

Black History quotes: Booker T. Washington

"I have learned that success is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life as by the obstacles which he has overcome while trying to succeed." 

–– Booker Taliaferro Washington (1856-1915), American educator, author, orator, and adviser to several U.S. presidents 

From Up From Slavery: An Autobiography

Quotes 356: Théodore Géricault

"Although obstacles and difficulties frighten ordinary people, they are the necessary food of genius. They cause it to mature, and raise it up ... All that obstructs the path of genius inspires a state of feverish agitation, upsetting and overturning those obstacles, and producing masterpieces." 

–– Théodore Géricault (1791-1824), French painter

via Sketchbook 10, 2010. p. 147

Quotes 35: Marcus Aurelius

"What stands in the way becomes the way." 

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

via Book of Commonplace 2017-2020, p. 122