Inspiring quotes
3.1K quotes on this topic — from poets, philosophers, and thinkers across history.
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"Freedom from obsession is not about something you do; it's about knowing who you are. It's about recognizing what sustains you and what exhausts you. What you love and what you think you love because you believe you can't have it."
"If it was easy, everyone would be doing it. That's why they call it artWORK!"
"To live an art-filled life, one must be willing to try new things & accept that things change."
"Millions of people live their entire lives without finding themselves. But it is something I must do."
"Let yourself go, the pleasure of physical movement is so important. If that's a problem, you say to yourself, what is there that I am afraid of, or hiding? Maybe your libido!"
"I am not a victim of emotional conflicts. I am human."
"It is absolutely necessary... for me to have persons that can think for me, as well as execute orders."
"An artist cannot do anything slovenly."
"The things that make us happy make us wise."
"To think is not enough, you must think of something."
"Tug on anything in nature and you will find it connected to everything else."
"The first principle of value that we need to rediscover is this: that all reality hinges on moral foundations. In other words, that this is a moral universe, and that there are moral laws of the universe just as abiding as the physical laws."
"Each time I write a book, every time I face that yellow pad, the challenge is so great. I have written eleven books, but each time I think, ‘Uh oh, they’re going to find out now. I’ve run a game on everybody and they’re going to find me out."
"Making a decision to write was a lot like deciding to jump into a frozen lake."
"My life has been long, and believing that life loves the liver of it, I have dared to try many things, sometimes trembling, but daring still."
"Poetry puts starch in your backbone so you can stand, so you can compose your life."
"Because of the Civil Rights movement, new doors of opportunity and education swung open for everybody ... Not just for blacks and whites, but also women and Latinos; and Asians and Native Americans; and gay Americans and Americans with a disability. They swung open for you, and they swung open for me. And that's why I'm standing here today-because of those efforts, because of that legacy."
"And so you [young Americans]need to be the Idea Generation. The generation who's always thinking on the cutting edge, who's wondering how to create and keep the next wave of American jobs and American innovations, who's figuring out how to out-compete the Idea Generations of Indias and Chinas of the world."
"As tough as things have been, I am convinced you are tougher. I've seen your passion and I've seen your service. I've seen you engage and I've seen you turn out in record numbers. I've heard your voices amplified by creativity and a digital fluency that those of us in older generations can barely comprehend. I've seen a generation eager, impatient even, to step into the rushing waters of history and change its course."
"Even if you follow other people's advice and model successful people and their blueprints, you will still fail if you don't have confidence in yourself. Everything - absolutely everything - starts with you."
