Austin kleon quotes

Draw the art you want to see, start the business you want to run, play the music you want to hear, write the books you want to read, build the products you want to use – do the work you want to see done.

Enjoy your obscurity while it lasts.

That’s the thing you have to understand about the whole process of art (or the work that we do) – you’re only half of the equation. It’s an interaction between you and the person who’s going to experience the work. The person who’s going to experience the work is bringing just as much to it and is just as important as you are.

There’s an economic theory out there that if you take the incomes of your five closest friends and average them, the resulting number will be pretty close to your own income. I think the same thing is true of idea incomes. You’re only going to be as good as the stuff you surround yourself with.

The thing is: It takes a lot of energy to be creative. You don't have that energy if you waste it on other stuff.

Creative people need time to just sit around and do nothing.

Obituaries are like near-death experiences for cowards.

If you want fans, you have to be a fan first.

The more good ideas you collect, the more you can choose from to be influenced by.

Every new idea is just a mashup or a remix of one or more previous ideas.

If I'd waited to know who I was or what I was about before I started "being creative," well, I'd still be sitting around trying to figure myself out instead of making things. In my experience, it's in the act of making things and doing our work that we figure out who we are.

There's an intuition learned through our work. Teaching others doesn't mean they can just go out and replicate it.

Art is theft”) and Igor Stravinsky (“Lesser artists borrow, great artists steal”), I’ve always stolen from the people I admire – not plagiarized, mind you, but stolen bits of ideas and stylistic influences. If you steal widely enough, after all, your models are inevitably changed and the result is in the end completely yours. Kleon cites André Gide to this point, in a quotation I love: “Everything that needs to be said has already been said. But, since no one was listening, everything must be said again.

You'll either find the answer or you'll come up with a better question.

Your brain gets too comfortable in your everyday surroundings. You need to make it uncomfortable. You need to spend some time in another land, among people that do things differently than you. Travel makes the world look new, and when the world looks new, our brains work harder.

Dig into almost every overnight success story and you’ll find about a decade’s worth of hard work and perseverance.

If we're free from the burden of trying to be completely original, we can stop trying to make something out of nothing, and we can embrace influence instead of running from it.

Amateurs know that contributing something is better than contributing nothing.

Marriage is two people in love standing in the same bathroom

Genealogy of ideas. You don’t get to pick your family, but you can pick your teachers and you can pick your friends and you can pick the music you listen to and you can pick the books you read and you can pick the movies you see.

Pretend to be making something until you actually make something.

You can’t be content with mastery; you have to push yourself to become a student again.

We found the future, like birds fly into windows.

Unless you are actually a ninja, a guru, or a rock star, don't ever use any of those terms in your bio. Ever.

Copying is about reverse-engineering.

Today isn't just another day. Today I'll create something beautiful.

The minute you learn something, turn around and teach it to others.

The artist is a collector. Not a hoarder, mind you, there's a difference: Hoarders collect indiscriminately, artists collect selectively. They only collect things that they really love.

Be boring. (It’s the only way to get work done.)

It sounds a little extreme, but in this day and age, if your work isn't online, it doesn't exist.

What a good artist understands is that nothing comes from nowhere. All creative work builds on what came before. Nothing is completely original.

Become a documentarian of what you do.

There's a balance between what you want to give the world and what it needs. If you're lucky, your work is in the middle.

You’re only going to be as good as the stuff you surround yourself with.

Usually, when we talk about creativity, it's about self-expression, which is great, but for work to be art or design, there has to be someone on the other end. The audience makes the work come alive.

Write the book you want to read

The biggest task in the morning is to try to keep my headspace from being invaded by the outside world.

Google everything. I mean everything. Google your dreams, Google your problems. Don’t ask a question before you Google it. You’ll either find the answer or you’ll come up with a better question.

School is one thing. Education is another. The two don’t always overlap. Whether you’re in school or not, it’s always your job to get yourself an education.

So go on, get angry. But keep your mouth shut and go do your work.

Establishing and keeping a routine can be even more important than having a lot of time.

If you ever find you're the most talented person in the room, you need to find another room.

Do good work and share it with people.

If you’re worried about giving your secrets away, you can share your dots without connecting them.

Be nice. (The world is a small town.)

Collect books, even if you don't plan on reading them right away. Filmmaker John Waters has said, "Nothing is more important than an unread library."

The only way to find your voice is to use it. It’s hardwired, built into you. Talk about the things you love. Your voice will follow.

Keep all your passions in your life.

Art that only comes from the head isn't any good. Watch any good musician and you'll see what I mean.

When people give advice, they're really just talking to themselves in the past.

It's in the act of making things that we figure out who we are.

Eat breakfast. Do some push-ups. Go for long walks. Get plenty of sleep.

Travel makes the world look new, and when the world looks new, our brains work harder.

The computer brings out the uptight perfectionist in us - we start editing ideas before we have them.

The best advice is not to write what you know, it's to write what you like.

Be curious about the world in which you live. Look things up. Chase down every reference. Go deeper than anybody else--that's how you'll get ahead.

You're ready. Start making stuff.

Read deeply. Stay open. Continue to wonder.

Not everybody will get it. People will misinterpret you and what you do. They might even call you names. So get comfortable with being misunderstood, disparaged, or ignored -- the trick is to be too busy doing your work to care.

You are, in fact, a mashup of what you choose to let into your life.

Find the most talented person in the room, and if it's not you, go stand next to him. Hang out with him. Try to be helpful. If you ever find that you're the most talented person in the room, you need to find another room.

Every artist gets asked the question, 'Where do you get your ideas?' The honest artist answers, 'I steal them.'

The only way to find your voice is to use it

Don't worry about doing research. Just search.

Don't wait until you know who you are to get started.

Show your work, and when the right people show up, pay close attention to them, because they'll have a lot to show you.

In order to be found, you have to be findable.

We're always being told 'find your voice.' When I was younger, I never really knew what this meant. I used to worry a lot about voice, wondering if I had my own. But now I realize that the only way to find your voice is to use it. It's hardwired, built into you. Talk about the things you love. Your voice will follow.

The best way to get started on the path of sharing your work is to think about what you want to learn, and make a commitment to learning it in front of others.

The people who get what they’re after are very often the ones who just stick around long enough.

Inertia is the death of creativity

You are, in fact, a mashup of what you choose to let into your life. You are the sum of your influences. The German writer Goethe said, "We are shaped and fashioned by what we love."

In the end, creativity isn’t just the things we choose to put in, it’s the things we choose to leave out.

The best advice is not to write what you know, it's to write what you like. Write the kind of story you like best - write the story you want to read. The same principle applies to your life and your career.

Nothing is more paralyzing than the idea of limitless possibilities.

Don't think of your website as a self-promotion machine, think of it as a self-invention machine.

You can't find your voice if you don't use it.