Hugh MacLeod:

Nobody can tell you if what you're doing is good, meaningful, or worthwhile. The more compelling the path, the more lonely it is.

Ignore Everybody: And 39 Other Keys to Creativity, p. 23

Richard Hugo:

I believe that the moment you declare yourself great you put a curse on yourself. You can get away with it in baseball (Johnny Bench) or boxing (Muhammed Ali) if you have the physical gifts to back it up. But the poet who says "I am the greatest" has damned himself forever.

The Triggering Town, p. 70

Steven Pressfield:

Our job in this lifetime is not to shape ourselves into some ideal we imagine we ought to be, but to find out who we already are and become it.

The War of Art, p. 146

Mary Pipher:

The finest thing we can do in life is to grow a soul and then use it in the service of humankind.

Writing to Change the World, p. 241

David Bayles & Ted Orland:

…in making art you bring your highest skills to bear upon the materials and ideas you care about. Art is a high calling…

Art & Fear, p. 14

Hugh MacLeod:

Big offers are a good thing, but personal sovereignty matters a whole lot more over the long run.

Ignore Everybody: And 39 Other Keys to Creativity, p. 20

Richard Hugo:

There are those usual people who try desperately to appear unusual and there are unusual people who try to appear usual. Most poets I've met are from the latter and much smaller group.

The Triggering Town, p. 34

Steven Pressfield:

The professional learns to recognize envy-driven criticism and to take it for what it is: the supreme compliment. The critic hates most that which he would have done himself if he had had the guts.

The War of Art, p. 93

Mary Pipher:

Our writing is one way in which we express our moral sense and our integrity. Morality is not a delicate consommé; it is a thick and spicy jambong, a concoction of fish, shrimp, squid, chilies, vegetables, and noodles, served in a flavorful dark broth. It is pungent, intriguing, and sustaining.

Writing to Change the World, p. 240

David Bayles & Ted Orland:

Lincoln doubted his capacity to express what needed to be said at Gettysburg, yet pushed ahead anyway, knowing he was doing the best he could to present the ideas he needed to share.

Art & Fear, p. 19-20

Hugh MacLeod:

Publishers are just middlemen. That's all. If artists could remember that more often, they'd save themselves a lot of aggravation.

Ignore Everybody: And 39 Other Keys to Creativity, p. 20

Steven Pressfield:

The professional loves her work. She is invested in it wholeheartedly. But she does not forget that the work is not her. Her artistic self contains many works and many performances. Already the next is percolating inside her. The next will be better, and the one after that better still.

The War of Art, p. 88

Mary Pipher:

Good storytellers heal the world. The stories that save us are the stories that give us what some Buddhists call a "bigger container." They open us up to new understanding and growth. Bigger container stories expand our circle of caring, and "complexify" the universe rather than simplify it. They encourage us to risk more for the world's sake rather than making us cynical, jaded, and cautious about it.

Writing to Change the World, p. 239-240

Highly Recommended New Book

Young artist Austin Kleon's debut, Newspaper Blackout, is available in stores everywhere, as of today. A Harper Perennial release, Newspaper Blackout features Kleon's fresh take on poetry.

Art: Up Close and Personal with Jim Sherraden

Tonight I will attend a talk by Jim Sherraden, manager, chief designer and archivist at Hatch Show Print. Hatch is one of the country's oldest, working letterpress print shops. Sherraden is co-author of Hatch Show Print: The History of a Great American Poster Shop. I own a number of Hatch prints and hope to have Sherraden sign my copy of the book. For more details about this evening's event, click here.

David Bayles & Ted Orland:

What separates artists from ex-artists is that those who challenge their fears, continue; those who don't, quit.

Art & Fear, p. 14

Hugh MacLeod:

Being good at anything is like figure skating -- the definition of being good at it is being able to make it look easy. But it never is easy. Ever. That's what the stupidly wrong people conveniently forget.

Ignore Everybody: And 39 Other Keys to Creativity, p. 11

Richard Hugo:

Writing is a way of saying you and the world have a chance.

The Triggering Town, p. 72

Steven Pressfield:

The amateur believes he must first overcome his fear; then he can do his work. The professional knows that fear can never be overcome. He knows there is no such thing as a fearless warrior or a dread-free artist.

The War of Art, p. 79

Mary Pipher:

Poets write to create beauty, tell the truth, speak for those without voices, comfort the sorrowful, encourage the hopeless, call attention to that which is fragile, and encourage us to be mindful.

Writing to Change the World, p. 233

David Bayles & Ted Orland:

Quitting means not starting again -- and art is all about starting again.

Art & Fear, p. 10

Hugh MacLeod:

Doing anything worthwhile takes forever. Ninety percent of what separates successful people and failed people is time, effort, and stamina.

Ignore Everybody: And 39 Other Keys to Creativity, p. 9