Randy Pausch:

We cannot change the cards we are dealt, just how we play the hand.

The Last Lecture, p. 17

A. A. Milne:

The third-rate mind is only happy when it is thinking with the majority. The second-rate mind is only happy when it is thinking with the minority. The first-rate mind is only happy when it is thinking.

Hugh MacLeod:

Vigorous debate about commercialism in art is a path well trodden, and not a place where one is going to come up with many new, earth-shattering insights. But a lot of people like to dwell on it because it keeps them from ever having to journey into unknown territory. It's safe. It allows you to have strong emotions and opinions without any real risk to yourself. Without your having to do any of the actual hard work involved in the making and selling of something you believe in.

Ignore Everybody: And 39 Other Keys to Creativity, p. 96-97

Steven Pressfield:

The professional tackles the project that will make him stretch.

The War of Art, p. 40

H. L. Mencken:

The urge to save humanity is almost always a false front for the urge to rule.

David Bayles & Ted Orland:

In making art you court the unknown, and with it the paranoia of those who fear what change might bring.

Art & Fear, p. 68

Blaise Pascal:

Men never do evil so completely and cheerfully as when they do it from religious conviction.

Randy Pausch:

...my dad always taught me that when there's an elephant in the room, introduce it.

The Last Lecture, p. 16

Ernest Hemingway:

A man's got to take a lot of punishment to write a really funny book.

Hugh MacLeod:

Making a big deal over your creative shtick to other people is the kiss of death.

Ignore Everybody: And 39 Other Keys to Creativity, p. 93

Steven Pressfield:

Remember our rule of thumb: The more scared we are of a work or calling, the more sure we can be that we have to do it.

The War of Art, p. 40

Martin Luther King Jr.:

Cowardice asks the question, "Is it safe?" Expediency asks the question, "Is it politic?" Vanity asks the question, "Is it popular?" But, conscience asks the question, "Is it right?" And there comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular but one must take it because one's conscience tells one that it is right.