"Creativity itself has its own built-in discipline, the kind that, for example in a dream, can rummage through the days of the future to find precisely the data required to make a specific point."

"Trying to be the same as everyone else is a strategy that kind of works in school.  When you get out into the world, it is differences that make you glorious."

"When the thrill of creation is its own reward, we are more inclined to create something lasting and meaningful."

"It's clear that advice of any type—whether it's for writing great novels, making a terrific spinach soufflé, or pitching a new widget to the sales team—is anything but one-size-fits-all."

"A book on creativity that insists upon one right way misses the point."

"I've seen teenagers just come alive with energy and joy when given the opportunity to express themselves creatively."

"Art does NOT come from the mind.  It does not come from your rational, analytical faculties.  It does not come from ideas.  It does not come from theories.  It does not come from philosophies.  You don't write a book in order to express a theme or make symbols.  That's NOT the process."

"I think everyone should sing and that everyone should write.  Like reading, these should be broadly accepted as social practices and not as fine arts."

"Trying to fit the great thrust of creativity into assembly-line time is in itself bound to lead to conflicts, dissatisfactions, and frustrations."

"I'm a strong believer that creativity is the ability to play."

"[You] tried to use an assembly-line kind of time for your creative productivity. This may work when manuscripts are being typed, and so much physical labor is involved, but overall you are using the 'wrong' approach to time, particularly for any creative artist."

"Expression is a necessity of life. ... Each person feels that drive."

"The claim some young writer makes each semester to me [is] that they don't want to read the writing of anyone else because it might damage their own creativity and squelch their voice.  Hard to believe, I realize, but I get myopic Kurt Vonnegut wannabes in my classes all the time. ... Reading helps [writers] find their own voice."

"People don't want to pay for content. They want to consume it for free, or monetise it for themselves. There's never been a greater sense of people feeling entitled to your creative work than there is right now.  And in that entitlement, respect for creative work is vanishing."

"Call it whatever you like—spirit, soul, psyche, personality, ego, unified field, inner being.  It is somewhere intangible, not physical, from whence these creations come.  Yet, by being put down on paper—letters into words, words into paragraphs, paragraphs into an essay—they join the physical realm."

"That's where drawing came in; creativity kept me from seeing the reality of how terrible things were." (artist)

"Although technology saves us time, it takes away mental space. Back when we had to do more tasks by hand, these tasks took longer to do, and while we did them, we had more time to think, daydream, or not-think."

"If you're an artist and you're satisfied, then you're done being an artist.  There's more out there than you could ever imagine."

"The little Brontës, with their kingdom of Gondaland, the infant Alcotts, young Robert Browning, and H.G. Wells all led an intensive dream-life which carried over into their maturity and took another form; and there are hundreds of authors who could tell the same stories of their youth." (artist)

"There's nothing for it but to use one's abilities full blast in every area—and that that resolve and action will conquer all and set [one] free—physically, creatively, and mentally."

"A few words an hour, a few etched paragraphs per day and—voilà!  We are the Creator!  Or better still, Joyce, Kafka, Sartre!  Nothing could be further from true creativity.  Nothing could be more destructive."

"Convincing science, technology, engineering kids that art is important is a battle that I like to fight."

"There is a lot of talk in creative fields about separating those who are creative and make things from all the other people, but that's fucking bullshit.  I don't think you can be a good designer if you don't have a business sense; I don't think you can be a good director if you don't have a sense of production.  I think it's all a part of the job and, frankly, we all have the capacity for creative output."

"Expression, rather than repression, is vital."

"DON'T THINK.  Which results in more relaxation and more unthinkingness and greater creativity."

"Making music and being an artist in any way, really, stems from an essentially self-centered place.  Some people will say that they make music or art to give something to the world, to share it with people, because they think people need to hear it.  I think most of that is bullshit.  You create things because they come from a place that is purely you.  It is very self-centered, which is not a bad thing—it is just the nature of creativity." 

"What we all have in us ... t it has always been there, and so few of us bother to notice.  When people ask me where I get my ideas, I laugh.  How strange—we're so busy looking out, to find ways and means, we forget to look in.  The Muse, to belabor the point then, is there, a fantastic storehouse, our complete being.  All that is most original lies waiting for us to summon it forth."

"Sometimes the contrast helps: when you come home from your day job, you have so much to pour into your passion because you've been holding in your creativity all day."

"With creative people ... there are always intrusions, hints or clues from ways of thinking that certainly appear foreign, and creative people use those hints and clues to construct an art, a musical composition or whatever. They sense a surge of power beneath."

"Time-based work doesn't make as much sense as it once did, as ideas are not 'things' and can't be measured in units. An idea, conceived in just a moment, can have enormous implications. Thus an 'idea person' has a more flexible approach to time. She learns how to develop the special, and often quite eccentric, circumstances that encourage creativity, and to trust inspiration when it appears—no matter what the time. "

The Great Discontent

Zen in the Art of Writing

"Creativity is what makes this whole human race not just function, but evolve."

"The verbal diarrhoea you might encounter somewhere like California is the enemy of creativity.  It's what isn't said that is the lifeblood of any writing."

"Artists are intensely aware of the chaos implied by the moment-to-moment sensual experience of human beings on this planet. But they also, paradoxically, have an intuition that behind the chaos there is meaning; behind the flux of moment-to-moment experience there is a deep and abiding order. "

The View from the Cheap Seats

"The artist shares her intuition of the world's order with the philosophers, the theologians, the scientists, the psychoanalysts—there are lots of people who believe there is order in the universe."

"Creativity is not an occupation; it is our birthright.  It is a way for us to make meaning of our lives, to reframe our relationship to the world, to communicate the deepest aspects of ourselves."

The Crossroads of Should and Must

"Creativity is part of human nature. It can only be untaught."

"The best thing we can do is give ourselves the gift of being free from the fear of failure.  Negative thinking can lead to anxiety and depression, and these are certain creativity killers."

"Creativity begets creativity.  I always feel more creative after I've helped children explore their own artistic talents."

"Adults who take the time to play are more creative than those who don't." (artist)

"Self-consciousness is the enemy of all art, be it acting, writing, painting or living itself, which is the greatest art of all ... creativity, at heart, is the essence of man's being."

"One of the essentials is to create a vacuum in my life which can only be satisfactorily filled by some form of creative work—whether it be writing, painting, sculpting, composing or just building a boat."

"Through writing, through that process, they realize that they become more intelligent, and more honest and more imaginative than they can be in any other part of their life." (artist)

"[Different creative mediums] are just both part of me and so they can't help but feed each other.  Anything that you work on, if you're being honest, shows your personality in it."

"To allow yourself that space is, I think, the nub of creativity.  It's also scary and risky, because you're building a house with no real blueprint, driving without a map, never quite sure where the hell you're going."

"Creativity is how I process the world, but curiosity is the spark that sets it in motion."

"Just unclench, live your life and spend less time berating yourself.  Anxiety and stress are the enemies of creativity."

"Curiosity creates a sort of brain vortex that sucks in whatever you feel most motivated to learn, along with ideas that may be floating around your environment.  The spark of curiosity lights up the hippocampus (where the creation of memories occurs), and the reward and pleasure brain circuits, which release dopamine.  So if you want an alert brain, start your day by immersing yourself in something you find fascinating and mysterious.  Pique your curiosity, enjoy the natural high and learn something new."

Die Empty