Hugh MacLeod:

The only people who can change the world are people who want to. And not everybody does.

Ignore Everybody: And 39 Other Keys to Creativity, p. 73

Marilynne Robinson:

Love is holy because it is like grace – the worthiness of its object is never really what matters.

Gilead, p. 209

David Bayles & Ted Orland:

To demand perfection is to deny your ordinary (and universal) humanity, as though you would be better off without it.

Art & Fear, p. 30-31

Steven Pressfield:

Fundamentalism is the philosophy of the powerless, the conquered, the displaced and the dispossessed.

The War of Art, p. 34

Chely Wright:

Isn’t that the best thing you can ever imagine -- that your story can facilitate ease for someone else?

Hugh MacLeod:

The most important thing a creative person can learn professionally is where to draw the red line that separates what you are willing to do from what you are not.

Ignore Everybody: And 39 Other Keys to Creativity, p. 66

Voltaire:

Anyone who has the power to make you believe absurdities has the power to make you commit injustices.

David Bayles & Ted Orland:

If you think good work is somehow synonymous with perfect work, you are headed for big trouble. Art is human; error is human; ergo, art is error. Inevitably, your work (like, uh, the preceding syllogism…) will be flawed. Why? Because you're a human being, and only human beings, warts and all, make art. Without warts it is not clear what you would be, but clearly you wouldn't be one of us.

Art & Fear, p. 29

Mickey Spillane:

Nobody reads a book to get to the middle.

Steven Pressfield:

Do we have to stare death in the face to make us stand up and confront Resistance?

The War of Art, "The Unlived Life"

Hugh MacLeod:

When the guy at the top of the ladder you're climbing describes the view from the top as "unrewarding," be concerned.

Ignore Everybody: And 39 Other Keys to Creativity, p. 65

David Bayles & Ted Orland:

There is probably no clearer waste of psychic energy than worrying about how much talent you have -- and probably no worry more common. This is true even among artists of considerable accomplishment.

Art & Fear, p. 26

Steven Pressfield:

Creative work is not a selfish act or a bid for attention on the part of the actor. It's a gift to the world and every being in it. Don't cheat us of your contribution. Give us what you've got.

The War of Art, p. 165

Dr. Seuss:

Be who you are and say what you feel because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind.

Hugh MacLeod:

Art suffers the moment other people start paying for it. The more you need the money, the more people will tell you what to do. The less control you will have. The more bullshit you will have to swallow. The less joy it will bring. Know this and plan accordingly.

Ignore Everybody: And 39 Other Keys to Creativity, p. 64

Reading on the Run

I packed three books in my vacation bags last week – A. J. Jacobs’ The Year of Living Biblically: One Man’s Humble Quest to Follow the Bible as Literally as Possible, Like Me: Confessions of a Heartland Country Singer by Chely Wright, and Philip Yancey’s Finding God in Unexpected Places. While I only touched the latter, I enjoyed the little that I did read and look forward to picking up the others in the near future.