Quotes 341: Lao Tzu

"If you tell me, I will listen.

If you show me, I will see.

If you let me experience, I will learn." 

–– Lao Tzu (c. 500 BCE), Chinese philosopher and writer

via Sketchbook 9, 2009, p. 77

Quotes 340: Keri Smith

"Never limit your playtime. Even if your brain is telling you otherwise.

All your best stuff comes from it if you allow yourself to remain open to the unknown." 

–– Keri Smith (b. 1975) Canadian writer, illustrator, and conceptual artist

Quote from Keri Smith blogpost on December 16, 2009

via Sketchbook 9, 2009, p. 66

Quotes 339: C. S. Lewis

"Every time you make a choice you are turning the central part of you, the part of you that chooses, into something a little different from what it was before." 

–– C. S. Lewis (1898-1963), Irish-born British writer and lay theologian 

via Sketchbook 9, 2009, p. 61

Quotes 338: William Morris

"If you want a golden rule that will fit everybody, this is it: Have nothing in your houses that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful." 

–– William Morris (1834-1896), British artist, craftsperson, textile designer, and social activist

Quote from The Beauty of Life 1880.

via Sketchbook 9, 2009, p. 56

Quotes 337: T.S. Eliot

"What we call the beginning is often the end

And to make an end is to make a beginning

The end is where we start from."

–– T.S. Eliot (1888-1965), American-born British author 

via Sketchbook 9, 2009, p. 55 

Quotes 336: Italo Calvino

 "Myth is the hidden part of every story, the buried part, the region that is still unexplored because there are as yet no words to enable us to get there. Myth is nourished by silence as well as words."

–– Italo Calvino (1923-1985), Cuban-born Italian author and journalist 

via Sketchbook 9, 2009, p. 52

Quotes 335: Henry David Thoreau

"The price of anything is the amount of life you exchange for it."

–– Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862), American essayist, philosopher, and poet  

via Sketchbook 9, 2009, p. 52 

Quotes 334: Author unknown

"Only dead fish go with the flow." 

–– Author unknown

via Sketchbook 9, 2009, p. 51

Quotes 333: Joseph Campbell

"The privilege of a lifetime is to be yourself." 

–– Joseph Campbell (1904-1987), American author and professor 

via Sketchbook 9, 2009, p. 46

Quotes 332: Des Walsh

"There is no disease in the world like desire." 

–– Des Walsh (b. 1954), Canadian poet and writer

Quote is from the play Rocking the Cradle, performed at the Tarragon Theatre in Toronto, 2009 which was written by Des Walsh and freely adapted from Federico Garcia Lorca's play Yerma (1934)

via Sketchbook 9, 2009, p. 45

Quotes 331: Carl Jung

"What did you do as a child that made the hours pass like minutes? Here is the key to your earthly pursuits." 

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

via Sketchbook 9, 2009, p. 31 

Quotes 330: Paul Romer

"A crisis is a terrible thing to waste." 

–– Paul Romer (b. 1955) American economist 

via Sketchbook 9, 2009, p. 3

Quotes 329: Frank McCourt

"Stock your mind, stock your mind. You might be poor, your shoes might be broken, but your mind is a palace." 

–– Frank McCourt (1930-2009), American writer and teacher

Quote from Angela's Ashes. 

via Sketchbook 8, 2009, p. 155 

Quotes 328: Maurice Sendak

"Make it dangerous or it's not worth doing." 

–– Maurice Sendak (1928-2012), American artist, illustrator and writer 

via Sketchbook 8, 2009, p. 137

Quotes 327: Sol LeWitt

"Relax and let everything go to hell." 

–– Sol LeWitt (1928-2007), American artist 

via Sketchbook 8, 2009, p. 136

Quotes 326: Joan Baez

"I've never had a humble opinion in my life. If you're going to have one, why bother to be humble about it?" 

–– Joan Baez (b. 1941), American singer, songwriter, musician and activist 

via Sketchbook 8, 2009, p. 137

Quotes 325: Brice Marden

"I know it's tricky ground, but I like to define painting in spiritual terms. Whatever subject matter or structure I bring to the painting –– and use and work through and rely on as factors –– for me painting is always about getting toward something I don't know about or understand. The way I get there is visual." 

–– Brice Marden (b. 1938), American artist

Quote from In the Power of Painting. Zürich: Alesco AG, 2000.

via Sketchbook 8, 2009, p. 131

Quotes 324: Mahatma Gandhi

"True art takes note not merely of form but also of what lies behind." 

–– Mahatma Gandhi (1869-1948), Indian lawyer, writer, and social activist 

via Sketchbook 8, 2009, p. 76 

Quotes 323: Milan Kundera

"Mysticism and exaggeration go together. A mystic must not fear ridicule if he is to push all the way to the limits of humility or the limits of delight." 

–– Milan Kundera (1929-2023), Czech-born French writer 

via Sketchbook 8, 2009, p. 57

Quotes 322: old maxim

"You can't see the picture when you are inside the frame." 

–– old maxim 

via Sketchbook 8, 2009, p. 47

Quotes 321: Emily Dickinson

"Tell the truth but tell it slant." 

–– Emily Dickinson (1830-1886), American poet 

via Sketchbook 8, 2009, p. 46

Quotes 320: Eleanor Snyder

"Pay attention to the ordinary and the mundane." 

–– Eleanor Snyder 

via Sketchbook 8, 2009, p. 45

Quotes 319: Ezra Pound

"Artists are the antenna of the race." 

–– Ezra Pound (1885-1972), American poet and critic 

via Sketchbook 8, 2009, p. 39

Quotes 318: André Gide

"What seems different in yourself; that's the rare thing you possess. The one thing that gives each of us his worth, and that's just what we try to suppress. And we claim to love life."

–– André Gide (1869-1951), French writer 

via Sketchbook 8, 2009, p. 35

Quotes 317: Édith Piaf

"Use your faults." 

–– Édith Piaf (1915-1963), French singer 

via Sketchbook 8, 2009, p. 34

Quotes 316: Robert Hughes

"The greater the artist, the greater the doubt. Perfect confidence is granted to the less talented as a consolation prize." 

–– Robert Hughes (1938-2012), Australian writer and art critic 

via Sketchbook 8, 2009, p. 26 

Quotes 315: John Ashbery

"misunderstanding is a creative process, another word for metaphor." 

–– John Ashbery (1927-2017), American poet and art critic; quote from Jane Hammond: Paper Work 

via Sketchbook 8, 2009, p. 13

Quotes 314: Hazel Henderson

"We are all making the future every minute that we live, by way of our collective and individual decisions. If we think like that, everybody is a futurist." 

–– Hazel Henderson (b. 1933), British writer, futurist, and economic iconoclast; quote from Massive Change by Bruce Mau. 

via Sketchbook 7, 2009, p. 104

Quotes 313: Oscar Wilde

"Colour can speak to the soul in a thousand different ways." 

–– Oscar Wilde (1854-1900), Irish poet and playwright 

via Sketchbook 7, 2009, p. 97

Quotes 312: Sun Tzu

"Opportunities multiply as they are seized." 

–– Sun Tzu (544-496 BC), Chinese military strategist, writer, philosopher 

via Sketchbook 7, 2009, p. 88

Quotes 311: James Hillman

"The world does not ask for belief. It asks for noticing, attention, appreciation, and care." 

–– James Hillman (1926-2011), American Jungian psychologist 

via Sketchbook 7, 2009, p. 77