Austin Kleon:

While I love my computer, I think computers have robbed us of the feeling that we're actually making things.

Steal Like an Artist, p. 53

Seth Godin:

Those who fear risk also begin to fear movement of any kind.  People act as through flux, the movement of people or ideas or anything else that's unpredictable, exposes us to risk, and risk exposes us to failure.  The fearful try to avoid collisions, so they avoid movement.

Poke the Box, p. 15

Hugh MacLeod:

Only you can decide what is meaningful.  Eventually you do it because you have no choice.

Freedom Is Blogging in Your Underwear, p. 6

David Lowery:

The existential questions that your generation gets to answer are these:

Why do we value the network and hardware that delivers music but not the music itself?

Why are we willing to pay for computers, iPods, smartphones, data plans, and high speed internet access but not the music itself?

Why do we gladly give our money to some of the largest richest corporations in the world but not the companies and individuals who create and sell music?

"Letter to Emily White at NPR All Songs Considered"

Annie Dillard:

At its best, the sensation of writing is that of any unmerited grace.  It is handed to you, but only if you look for it.

The Writing Life, p. 75

Voltaire:

What we find in books is like the fire in our hearths.  We fetch it from our neighbors, we kindle it at home, we communicate it to others, and it becomes the property of all.

Frank Schaeffer:

Our hearts connect to truth larger than ourselves: Love of others in the context of community.  That is the only value of formal religion.  It provides the place and time for the liturgies through which we may unite with others heart-to-heart to seek out those mysterious truths that words can't describe but that the doing of ritual helps us to tap into.

Sex, Mom, and God, p. 261

Austin Kleon:

Nobody is born with a style or a voice.  We don't come out of the womb knowing who we are.  In the beginning, we learn by pretending to be our heroes.  We learn by copying.  We're talking about practice here, not plagiarism -- plagiarism is trying to pass someone else's work off as your own.  Copying is about reverse-engineering.  It's like a mechanic taking apart a car to see how it works. 

Steal Like an Artist, p. 33

Seth Godin:

So, for some, risk comes to equal failure (take enough risks and sooner or later, you will fail).  Risk is avoided because we've been trained to avoid failure.  I define anxiety as experiencing failure in advance... and if you have anxiety about initiating a project, then of course you will associate risk with failure.

Poke the Box, p. 14

Hugh MacLeod:

Bring new light to what life might be: that's what Creativity means.  That's why you were born; that's why you are here: to bring some new "light," some new angle, to the human condition -- if not to the broader world in general, then at least to your family and the people around you.

Freedom Is Blogging in Your Underwear, p. 54

Iris Murdoch:

One of the secrets of a happy life is continuous small treats.

Annie Dillard:

The sensation of writing a book is the sensation of spinning, blinded by love and daring.

The Writing Life, p. 74

Leo Tolstoy:

Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself.

Frank Schaeffer:

What's so curious is that in this religion-inflicted country of ours, the same Evangelicals, conservative Roman Catholics, and others who had been running around post-Roe insisting that America had a "Christian foundation" and demanding a "return to our heritage" (and/or more recently trashing health care reform as "communist") ignored the fact that one historic contribution of Christianity was a commitment to strong central government.

Sex, Mom, and God, p. 183

Austin Kleon:

Go to whatever lengths necessary to make sure you always have paper on you.  Artist David Hockney had all the inside pockets of his suit jackets tailored to fit a sketchbook.  The musician Arthur Russell liked to wear shirts with two front pockets so he could fill them with scraps of score sheets.

Steal Like an Artist, p. 22

Seth Godin:

The job isn't to catch up to the status quo; the job is to invent the status quo.

Poke the Box, intro

Hugh MacLeod:

I will live happy.  I will die happy.  I don't care what it costs me.

Freedom Is Blogging in Your Underwear, p. 5

Lynda Barry:

In the digital age, don't forget to use your digits!

Annie Dillard:

Why are we reading if not in hope that the writer will magnify and dramatize our days, will illuminate and inspire us with wisdom, courage, and the possibility of meaningfulness, and will press upon our minds the deepest mysteries, so we may feel again their majesty and power?

The Writing Life, p. 72-73

Andre Torrez:

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

Frank Schaeffer:

Sex scandals seem to be the only actual interdenominational ecumenism that exists; perversity unites many Christian groups, as does their propensity to judge others.

Sex, Mom, and God, p. 255