Steal Like an Artist: 10 Things Nobody Told You About Being Creative (Austin Kleon)

André Gide put it, “Everything that needs to be said has already been said. But, since no one was listening, everything must be said again.”

Go to whatever lengths necessary to make sure you always have paper on you.

That’s how the book was made—hands first, then computer, then hands, then computer. A kind of analog-to-digital loop.

“Complain about the way other people make software by making software.”

The important thing is that you show your appreciation without expecting anything in return, and that you get new work out of the appreciation.

Guess what: None of us do. Ask anybody doing truly creative work, and they’ll tell you the truth: They don’t know where the good stuff comes from. They just show up to do their thing. Every day.

“Be regular and orderly in your life, so that you may be violent and original in your work.” —Gustave Flaubert

Just as you have a familial genealogy, you also have a 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. You are, in fact, a mashup of what you choose to let into your li

“Telling yourself you have all the time in the world, all the money in the world, all the colors in the palette, anything you want—that just kills creativity.” —Jack White