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Quotes about Creating

Matt Damon Quote on Taking Action Rather Than Sitting Around Thinking You’re “Too Cool”

    “It was like, ‘Why are we sitting here?  Let’s make our own movie.’  And if people come to see it, they come; and if they don’t, they don’t.  Either way it beats sitting here going crazy.  When you have so much energy and so much passion and no outlet for it and nobody cares, it’s just the worst feeling… This whole ‘I’m too cool to care’ thing… is so weak and stupid and played out, and it just brings everybody down.  You shouldn’t be too cool to care, for Christ’s sake.  You should be full of vim and vigor, and trying to do everything you can to make a change.”

    Matt Damon

    Beyond the Quote (48/365)

    Regardless of what gets you there, when the end conclusion is not caring, then all of the life that comes from caring dissolves.  Caring is exactly what drives us to listen, to pay attention, to take actions, to go above and beyond, and to think and reflect—essentially, when we don’t care, we’re choosing not to interact with the world (or at least that aspect of it).

    Read More »Matt Damon Quote on Taking Action Rather Than Sitting Around Thinking You’re “Too Cool”

    Anne Lamott Quote on Writing Really Poorly Before You Ever Write Anything Good

      “People tend to look at successful writers, writers who are getting books published and maybe even doing well financially, and think that they sit down at their desks every morning feeling like a million dollars, feeling great about who they are and how much talent they have and what a great story they have to tell; that they take a few deep breaths, push back their sleeves, roll their necks a few times to get all the cricks out, and dive in, typing fully formed passages as fast as a court reporter. But this is just fantasy of the uninitiated. I know some very great writers, writers you love who write beautifully and have made a great deal of money, and not one of them sits down routinely feeling wildly enthusiastic and confident. Not one of them writes elegant first drafts… For me and most other writers I know, writing is not rapturous. If fact, the only way I can get anything written at all is to write really, really shitty first drafts.”

      Anne Lamott

      Beyond the Quote (43/365)

      For all of you who are intimidated by the dreaded blank page and have insecurities and self-doubts about writing (or creating in general), let me reassure you: we ALL start out with really, really shitty first drafts.  Not even the best writers in the world (the ones who you envision typing out those perfect, fully formed passages as fast as a court reporters can type) write their final copy on their first try.  It just doesn’t happen.  So, drop the expectation that you’ll be able to do that yourself (sorry not sorry)!

      Read More »Anne Lamott Quote on Writing Really Poorly Before You Ever Write Anything Good

      Bernard Malamud Quote on Writing—There’s No Secret Practice

        “There’s no one way [to write] — there’s too much drivel about this subject.  You’re who you are, not Fitzgerald or Thomas Wolfe.  You write by sitting down and writing.  There’s no particular time or place — you suit yourself, your nature.  How one works, assuming he’s disciplined, doesn’t matter.  If he or she is not disciplined, no sympathetic magic will help.  The trick is to make time — not steal it — and produce the fiction.  If the stories come, you get them written, you’re on the right track.  Eventually everyone learns his or her own best way.  The real mystery to crack is you.”

        Bernard Malamud, via Daily Rituals

        Beyond the Quote (16/365)

        If Dwayne Johnson AND Jocko Willink both wake up at 4am to get their workouts done, given how wildly busy and in shape they both are, then that must be the best time to wake up and workout, right?  To answer that from personal experience, no.  I have tried to build that idea into my routine several times and have failed awfully each and every time.  I experienced so much misery and resistance that I felt like even if I mustered together ALL of my willpower from a day, it wouldn’t be enough to get me through one 4am workout—let alone a lifetime of them.  So, what gave?

        Read More »Bernard Malamud Quote on Writing—There’s No Secret Practice

          “Whatever it is for you, our lives were meant to be spent making our contribution to the world, not merely consuming the world that others create.” ~ James Clear, Blog

            “I am often accused of being childish. I prefer to interpret that as child-like. I still get wildly enthusiastic about little things. I tend to exaggerate and fantasize and embellish. I still listen to instinctual urges. I play with leaves. I skip down the street and run against the wind. I never water my garden without soaking myself. It has been after such times of joy that I have achieved my greatest creativity and produced my best work.” ~ Leo F. Buscaglia, Bus 9 to Paradise

              “Understand: to create a meaningful work of art or to make a discovery or invention requires great discipline, self-control, and emotional stability.  It requires mastering the forms of your field.  Drugs and madness only destroy such powers.  Do not fall for the romantic myths and clichés that abound in culture about creativity—offering us the excuse or panacea that such powers can come cheaply.  When you look at the exceptionally creative work of Masters, you must not ignore the years of practice, the endless routines, the hours of doubt, and the tenacious overcoming of obstacles these people endured.  Creative energy is the fruit of such efforts and nothing else.” ~ Robert Greene, Mastery

                “Your task as a creative thinker is to actively explore the unconscious and contradictory parts of your personality, and to examine similar contradictions and tensions in the world at large.  Expressing these tensions within your work in any medium will create a powerful effect on others, making them sense unconscious truths or feelings that have been obscured or repressed.” ~ Robert Greene, Mastery

                  “Masters manage to blend the two—discipline and a childlike spirit—together into what we shall call the Dimensional Mind.  Such a mind is not constricted by limited experience or habits.  It can branch out into all directions and make deep contact with reality.  It can explore more dimensions of the world.  The Conventional Mind is passive—it consumes information and regurgitates it in familiar forms.  The Dimensional Mind is active, transforming everything it digests into something new and original, creating instead of consuming.” ~ Robert Greene, Mastery

                    “There is vitality, a life force, energy, a quickening that is translated through you into action, and because there is only one of you in all of time, this expression is unique.  And if you block it, it will never exist through any other medium and it will be lost.  The world will not have it.  It is not your business to determine how good it is nor how valuable nor how it compares with other expressions.  It is your business to keep it yours clearly and directly, to keep the channel open.  You do not even have to believe in yourself or your work.  You have to keep yourself open and aware of the urges that motivate you.  Keep the channel open…” ~ Martha Graham, via How To Live A Good Life

                      “Daring ideas are like chessmen moved forward; they may be beaten, but they may start a winning game.” ~ Goethe, via Blog of Jonathan Fields