“I’ve never believed that one should wait until one is inspired because I think that the pleasures of not writing are so great that if you ever start indulging them you will never write again.”
John Updike, via Daily Rituals (Page 195) | Read Matt’s Blog on this quote ➜
“Some pianists say they are the slaves of their instrument. If I am its slave, all I can say is—I have a very kind master.”
Sergey Rachmaninoff, Daily Rituals (Page 179)
“My life has been my music, it’s always come first, but the music ain’t worth nothing if you can’t lay it on the public.”
Louis Armstrong, via Daily Rituals (Page 114) (Read Matt’s Blog On This Quote)
“I don’t believe in draining the reservoir, do you see? I believe in getting up from the typewriter, away from it, while I still have things to say.”
Henry Miller, via Daily Rituals (Page 53) | Read Matt’s Blog on this quote ➜
“A modern stoic knows that the surest way to discipline passion is to discipline time: decide what you want or ought to do during the day, then always do it at exactly the same moment every day, and passion will give you no trouble.”
W. H. Auden, via Daily Rituals (Page 3)
Daily Rituals [Book]
Book Overview: How is a novel written? A masterpiece painted? A symphony composed? Benjamin Franklin took daily naked air baths and Toulouse-Lautrec pained in brothels. Edith Sitwell worked in bed, and George Gershwin composed at the piano in pyjamas. Freud worked sixteen hours a day, but Gertrude Stein could never write for more than thirty minutes, and F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote in gin-fuelled bursts—he believed alcohol was essential to his creative process. Here are the working routines of more than a hundred and sixty of the greatest philosophers, writers, composers and artists ever to have lived, who, whether by amphetamines or alcohol, headstands or boxing, made time and got to work.
Post(s) Inspired by this Book:
- 13 Intriguing Quotes from Daily Rituals and How Great Creators—Create
- Gerhard Richter Quote on Ideas and How They Won’t Come to You—You Have To Find Them (Beyond the Quote Day 413)
- Henry Miller Quote on Not Draining The Reservoir and Finishing Before You’re Done (Beyond the Quote Day 418)
- Haruki Murakami Quote on Routine and How It’s A Form Of Mesmerism (Beyond the Quote Day 420)
- John Updike Quote on Writing and How Waiting For Inspiration Can Backfire (Beyond the Quote Day 421)
- Willa Cather Quote on Writing and Making It An Adventure Rather Than A Chore (Beyond the Quote Day 423)
“If you never copy best practices, you’ll have to repeat all the mistakes yourself. If you only copy best practices, you’ll always be one step behind the leaders.”
James Clear, Blog
C. Day Lewis Quote on Writing and How We Write To Understand; Not To Share What We Already Know
“I do not sit down at my desk to put into verse something that is already clear in my mind. If it were clear in my mind, I should have no incentive or need to write about it… We do not write in order to be understood; we write in order to understand.”
C. Day Lewis, The Poetic Image, via Sunbeams (Page 15)
Beyond the Quote (385/365)
It starts out as a feeling. An inquisition. A hunch. A curiosity. A reoccurring thought. An observation. An idea. A single line of text.
It proceeds as an exploration into the unknown. A navigating of unclear roads. A charting of unexplored territory. An unraveling of knotted up mental yarn. A sorting through of an unorganized desk. As trains of thought.
Read More »C. Day Lewis Quote on Writing and How We Write To Understand; Not To Share What We Already Know“I’m often asked where my melodies and lyrics come from. I may never fully comprehend how a song sprouts from nothingness into existence, and truthfully, I’m not tempted to decode the mystery. I hope to be constantly surprised, in amazement of how the tiny seed of a possible chord or lyric miraculously springs to life. That unexplainable process, that alchemy, is part of what separates art from logic and reason. I don’t create from a set of rules or formulas. I tap into my true feelings and experiences and allow them to guide me.”
Alicia Keys, More Myself (Page 60)
“The magic in any art is not only in its technique but in its authenticity. Truth in its rawest form is what resonates most powerfully.”
Alicia Keys, More Myself (Page 39)
“Some people hesitate to share an idea because they’re worried it will be stolen. In general, these people are afraid of success, not failure. An idea unspoken is a safe one, which not only can’t be stolen, but it can’t be tested, criticized, improved or used in the real world.”
Seth Godin, Blog
Feeling Down About Your Ideas? Read This…
Excerpt: Inspired by a post on Reddit, read this to break free from the impossibly exhaustive thinking of originality and learn how to start remixing.
Read More »Feeling Down About Your Ideas? Read This…
An Argument For Art — And Why You Should Be Creating With Every Opportunity You Get
Excerpt: Think about everything that has to happen before you even get to consider creating something. It’s a miracle that art is a thought for you…
Read More »An Argument For Art — And Why You Should Be Creating With Every Opportunity You Get
Kevin Kelly Quote on Creating and How To Take Creations from Being “Good” to “Great”
“To make something good, just do it. To make something great, just re-do it, re-do it, re-do it. The secret to making fine things is in remaking them.”
Kevin Kelly, Blog
Beyond the Quote (210/365)
The rough draft is never as good as the final copy. The first rendition is never as smooth as the final production. The initial prototype never functions as well as the end-stage product. In each of these cases, what’s the difference between the former and the latter? The re-doing. Re-doing doesn’t have to mean starting from scratch with each of your creations either—although it could be that. Rather, it’s more of an emphasis on constant and never-ending refinement.
Read More »Kevin Kelly Quote on Creating and How To Take Creations from Being “Good” to “Great”“Separate the processes of creation from improving. You can’t write and edit, or sculpt and polish, or make and analyze at the same time. If you do, the editor stops the creator. While you invent, don’t select. While you sketch, don’t inspect. While you write the first draft, don’t reflect. At the start, the creator mind must be unleashed from judgement.”
Kevin Kelly, Blog
Witt Lowry Quote from Debt on How Things That Are Man-Made Don’t Make The Man
“I should have known that somethin’ man-made couldn’t make me /
I say I’m makin’ music, or is music what creates me?”
Witt Lowry, Debt, Nevers Road
Beyond the Quote (208/365)
Nothing man-made makes the man. It’s what the man makes that makes the man. What somebody else made is a reflection of them. You obtaining what they made doesn’t make you into any kind of different person at all. It might reveal the type of person you are but it doesn’t change who you are. To understand this is to understand the power in making and creating. To forget this is to forget and never realize who you are to yourself or the world.
Read More »Witt Lowry Quote from Debt on How Things That Are Man-Made Don’t Make The ManSteven Pressfield Quote on Creative Work and How To Overcome The Resistance To Express It
“Are you a born writer? Were you put on earth to be a painter, a scientist, an apostle of peace? In the end the question can only be answered by action. Do it or don’t do it. It may help to think of it this way. If you were meant to cure cancer or write a symphony or crack cold fusion and you don’t do it, you not only hurt yourself, even destroy yourself. You hurt your children. You hurt me. You hurt the planet. You shame the angels who watch over you and you spite the Almighty, who created you and only you with your unique gifts, for the sole purpose of nudging the human race one millimeter farther along its path back to God. Creative work is not a selfish act or a bid for attention on the part of the actor. It’s a gift to the world and every being in it. Don’t cheat us of your contribution. Give us what you’ve got.”
Steven Pressfield, The War of Art
Beyond the Quote (189/365)
Don’t think that just because I write every day that it’s easy for me. Writing is always hard. Just like sprinting is always hard. Neither ever gets easier—you just get better. Just today, for example, I sat down to write and noticed—really felt—the potency of the resistance that I had to overcome in order to begin. Here’s what the start to my writing looked like:
Read More »Steven Pressfield Quote on Creative Work and How To Overcome The Resistance To Express It