"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.
"You mustn't be afraid to fail or you'll never succeed."
–– Miss Marion Brook, character on The Gilded Age 2.2 (American TV show)
"Hardwood grows slowly."
–– Jewel (Kilcher) (b. 1974), American singer, songwriter, poet, actress, activist, author
Source: Cal Newport. Slow Productivity: The Lost Art of Accomplishment Without Burnout. New York: Portfolio/Penguin, 2024; p. 170.
via: Commonplace Book 2024, 2025, p. 79.
"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.
"Small things with great love. ... It is not how much we do, but how much love we put into the doing. And it is not how much we give, but how much love we put into the giving. To God there is nothing small."
–– Mother Teresa of Calcutta (1910-1997), Albanian-born Indian Roman Catholic nun
via Commonplace Book 2006-2009, 2007, p. 117.
"For the happiest life, days should be rigorously planned, nights left open to chance."
–– Mignon McLaughlin (1913-1983), American journalist and author
via: Commonplace Book, 2006-2009, 2007, p. 41.
"Attention is the most powerful tool of the human spirit. We can enhance or augment our attention with practices like meditation, breathwork, and exercise, diffuse it with technologies like email, texting, and social media, or alter it with pharmaceuticals. In the end, though, we are fully responsible for how we choose to use this extraordinary resource."
–– Linda Stone (b. 1955), American writer and consultant
Source: Jeff Karp. LIT: Use Nature's Playbook to Energize Your Brain, Spark Ideas, and Ignite Action. New York: William Morrow, 2024; p. 82.
via: Commonplace Book 2024, 2025, p. 64.
"I was broke for a very long time, but I always believed in myself and believed in the work and knew I had something special, Sherald recalled. "And so I always tell young artists, the world is full of quitters, so don't quit and you'll eventually rise to the top. And here I am, tada."
–– Amy Sherald (b. 1973), American painter
Source: Olivia Hampton. "Painter Amy Sherald asks: What is American?", https://www.kclu.org/arts-culture/2025-04-09/painter-amy-sherald-asks-what-is-american, April 9, 2025.
"Your ego can become an obstacle to your work. If you start believing in your greatness, it is the death of your creativity."
–– Marina Abramović (b. 1946), Serbian conceptual and performance artist
"Each of us lives an original life. In nature, there is no sameness. No two rocks are alike. No two people are alike. No moment is like another moment. We are born to do certain things. We are born to fill a certain need. We are born as verbs, not nouns."
–– Agnes Martin (1912-2004), Canadian-born American abstract painter
Source: Judy Martin blog, July 16, 2023
"Little as we know about the way in which we are affected by form, by colour, and light, we do know this, that they have an actual physical effect. Variety of form and brilliancy of colour are actual means of recovery."
–– Florence Nightingale (1820-1910), English social reformer, statistician, and founder of modern nursing
"How can I use what I love to do, what I am good at doing, to show love to those around me? To show examples of love who don't often see it? And can that snowball for them to start sharing more love too?"
–– Leanne Ford (b. 1981), American interior designer
Source: Leanne Ford. The Slow Down. New York: Abrams, 2024; p. 173.
via: Sketchbook M 13, 2024, p. 9.
"That which seems like a false step is just the next step."
–– Agnes Martin (1912-2004), Canadian-born American abstract painter
Source: Oliver Burkeman. Meditations for Mortals. Toronto: Allen Lane/Penguin Random House Canada, 2024; p. 9.
via: Sketchbook K 11, 2025, p. 45.
"There is no single style.
"Those days are gone, though honestly I wonder if those days ever existed. Even historical styles were based on travels, cultures combining, practicality, needs. Maybe we were always meshing styles, and these new morphed visions aren't new at all!"
–– Leanne Ford (b. 1981), American interior designer
Source: Leanne Ford. The Slow Down. New York: Abrams, 2024; p. 137.
via: Sketchbook M 13, 2024, p. 8.
"Anything that happens to me as a writer has been precipitated by an action of my own."
–– Joyce Carol Oates (b. 1938), American writer
via: Commonplace Book 2006-2009, 2008, p. 155.
"Dance in the body you have."
–– Agnes DeMille (1905-1993), American dancer and choreographer
via: Commonplace Book 2006-2009, 2009, p. 179.
"If you realized how powerful your thoughts are, you would never think a negative thought."
–– Peace Pilgrim (1908-1981), American spiritual teacher and activist, born Mildred Lisette Norman
via: Commonplace Book 2006-2009, 2007, p. 86.
"An artist is a person who thinks more than there is to think, feels more than there is to feel, and sees more than there is to see."
–– John Oliver Hobbes (1867-1906), American-born, British novelist and dramatist, pen-name of Pearl Mary Teresa Richards
via Commonplace Book 2006-2009, 2006, p. 40.
"It is easier to try to be better than you are than to be who you are."
–– Marion Woodman (1928-2018), Canadian psychoanalyst and writer
Source: Oliver Burkeman. Meditations for Mortals. Toronto: Allen Lane/Penguin Random House Canada, 2024; p. v.
via: Commonplace Book 2024, 2025, p. 33.
