Quotes about Creating
“The reason creativity wilts inside of us like a vase full of snipped wildflowers is the very same reason love fades. Somewhere along the line, we stop noticing. We can never stop noticing. The moment we stop noticing, we might as well be dead. We’re alive and breathing but we feel nothing at all. Creativity and love dies when we feel nothing at all. And so we notice so we we can feel because, in the words of Klinkenborg, noticing means thinking with all your senses.”
Cole Schafer
“A lot of the time, creativity comes from structure. When you have those parameters and structure, then within that you can be creative. If you don’t have structure, you’re just aimlessly doing stuff.”
Kobe Bryant, via Think Like A Monk (Page 132)
“Creative work needs solitude. It needs concentration, without interruptions. It needs the whole sky to fly in, and no eye watching until it comes to that certainty which it aspires to, but does not necessarily have at once. Privacy, then. A place apart––to pace, to chew pencils, to scribble and erase and scribble again.”
Mary Oliver
“The creative does not live off wins. The creative lives off the work. That’s what keeps her nourished.”
Cole Schafer (January Black), One Minute, Please? (Page 66)
“Like the volcano or the Phoenix, the creative process is an inferno that makes room for something new, something brilliant, something lovely. It’s messy. It’s bloody. It’s demanding. It’s rigorous. But, it’s also human. We destroy things not out of hatred but out of love—to make room to till the soil and plant the seeds of our vision. So, when you find yourself feeling self-destructive, don’t panic. Instead, reflect. What vision are you subconsciously making room for?“
Cole Schafer (January Black), One Minute, Please? (Page 62)
“Our job as professionals is to show up and do the work. Not simply respond to incoming or do the chores, but to create and innovate. And yet, some days feel more conducive than others. There are moments when it simply flows. When the surf’s up, cancel everything else. Don’t waste it. Postpone the dentist, outsource the grocery shopping and leave your email for now. Make hay.”
Seth Godin
“Creativity is an utterly human skill that can’t be automated. But technology can sweep away some of the more tedious parts of the process, like research or data transfer or transcription. It can give you space to do the work that only you can do.”
Aytekin Tank, Automate Your Busywork (Page 158)
“Sometimes I’m afraid to write. While I love to tell stories, I occasionally freeze when I face a blank page. And I know I’m not alone. From the memoirs of famous artists and authors to discussion boards populated by blocked writers, it’s clear that, at one point or another, almost everyone struggles to overcome the sneaky creative fear author Steven Pressfield refers to as ‘resistance.’ Over the years, I’ve learned that (1) you just have to take a deep breath and get started, and (2) everything is easier once you have a first draft—no matter how bumpy it may be.”
Aytekin Tank, Automate Your Busywork (Page 103)
“Brains sabotage the most beautiful ideas. So, when you ask me: how can I do work I love—while also maybe traveling more and enjoying my life and learning the bagpipes and doing the kinds of creative projects I dream about? I’ll tell you what the first question is: Can you do what is necessary? Can you silence your brain long enough to actually attempt something great?“
Ash Ambirge
“…These are among the most important times in one’s life–when one is alone. Certain springs are tapped only when we are alone. The artists knows he must be alone to create; the writer to work out his thoughts; the musician, to compose; the saint, to pray.”
Anne Morrow Lindbergh, Gift from the Sea
“My aunt and uncle in their country home taught me how to be okay with sitting still, a quality that has been as important to my career as anything. To be a decent writer, you have to be okay with either writing or doing absolutely nothing. I’m a firm believer that the only way to be creative is to sit around and do nothing until you get bored enough to entertain yourself.”
Cole Schafer
