Quotes from Steal Like an Artist: 10 Things Nobody Told You About Being Creative

“If you ever find that you're the most talented person in the room, you need to find another room.”
― Austin Kleon, quote from Steal Like an Artist: 10 Things Nobody Told You About Being Creative

“Draw the art you want to see, start the business you want to run, play the music you want to hear, write the books you want to read, build the products you want to use – do the work you want to see done.”
― Austin Kleon, quote from Steal Like an Artist: 10 Things Nobody Told You About Being Creative

“You are, in fact, a mashup of what you choose to let into your life.”
― Austin Kleon, quote from Steal Like an Artist: 10 Things Nobody Told You About Being Creative

“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 life. You are the sum of your influences. The German writer Goethe said, "We are shaped and fashioned by what we love.”
― Austin Kleon, quote from Steal Like an Artist: 10 Things Nobody Told You About Being Creative

“Creative people need time to just sit around and do nothing.”
― Austin Kleon, quote from Steal Like an Artist: 10 Things Nobody Told You About Being Creative

“The artist is a collector. Not a hoarder, mind you, there's a difference: Hoarders collect indiscriminately, artists collect selectively. They only collect things that they really love.”
― Austin Kleon, quote from Steal Like an Artist: 10 Things Nobody Told You About Being Creative

“Be curious about the world in which you live. Look things up. Chase down every reference. Go deeper than anybody else--that's how you'll get ahead.”
― Austin Kleon, quote from Steal Like an Artist: 10 Things Nobody Told You About Being Creative

“You don’t want to look like your heroes, you want to see like your heroes.”
― Austin Kleon, quote from Steal Like an Artist: 10 Things Nobody Told You About Being Creative

“Not everybody will get it. People will misinterpret you and what you do. They might even call you names. So get comfortable with being misunderstood, disparaged, or ignored -- the trick is to be too busy doing your work to care.”
― Austin Kleon, quote from Steal Like an Artist: 10 Things Nobody Told You About Being Creative

“Your brain gets too comfortable in your everyday surroundings. You need to make it uncomfortable. You need to spend some time in another land, among people that do things differently than you. Travel makes the world look new, and when the world looks new, our brains work harder.”
― Austin Kleon, quote from Steal Like an Artist: 10 Things Nobody Told You About Being Creative

“Always be reading. Go to the library. There’s magic in being surrounded by books. Get lost in the stacks. Read bibliographies. It’s not the book you start with, it’s the book that book leads you to. Collect books, even if you don’t plan on reading them right away. Filmmaker John Waters has said, “Nothing is more important than an unread library.” Don’t worry about doing research. Just search.”
― Austin Kleon, quote from Steal Like an Artist: 10 Things Nobody Told You About Being Creative

“The best advice is not to write what you know, it’s to write what you like. Write the kind of story you like best—write the story you want to read. The same principle applies to your life and your career:”
― Austin Kleon, quote from Steal Like an Artist: 10 Things Nobody Told You About Being Creative

“Start copying what you love. Copy copy copy copy. At the end of the copy you will find your self.”
― Austin Kleon, quote from Steal Like an Artist: 10 Things Nobody Told You About Being Creative

“Google everything. I mean everything. Google your dreams, Google your problems. Don’t ask a question before you Google it. You’ll either find the answer or you’ll come up with a better question.”
― Austin Kleon, quote from Steal Like an Artist: 10 Things Nobody Told You About Being Creative

“Your job is to collect good ideas. The more good ideas you collect, the more you can choose from to be influenced by.”
― Austin Kleon, quote from Steal Like an Artist: 10 Things Nobody Told You About Being Creative

“Read deeply. Stay open. Continue to wonder.”
― Austin Kleon, quote from Steal Like an Artist: 10 Things Nobody Told You About Being Creative

“Keep all your passions in your life.”
― Austin Kleon, quote from Steal Like an Artist: 10 Things Nobody Told You About Being Creative

“Pretend to be making something until you actually make something.”
― Austin Kleon, quote from Steal Like an Artist: 10 Things Nobody Told You About Being Creative

“So go on, get angry. But keep your mouth shut and go do your work.”
― Austin Kleon, quote from Steal Like an Artist: 10 Things Nobody Told You About Being Creative

“In the end, creativity isn’t just the things we choose to put in, it’s the things we choose to leave out.”
― Austin Kleon, quote from Steal Like an Artist: 10 Things Nobody Told You About Being Creative

“School is one thing. Education is another. The two don’t always overlap. Whether you’re in school or not, it’s always your job to get yourself an education.”
― Austin Kleon, quote from Steal Like an Artist: 10 Things Nobody Told You About Being Creative

“Don't wait until you know who you are to get started.”
― Austin Kleon, quote from Steal Like an Artist: 10 Things Nobody Told You About Being Creative

“when people give you advice, they’re really just talking to themselves in the past.”
― Austin Kleon, quote from Steal Like an Artist: 10 Things Nobody Told You About Being Creative

“Every new idea is just a mashup or a remix of one or more previous ideas.”
― Austin Kleon, quote from Steal Like an Artist: 10 Things Nobody Told You About Being Creative

“Find the most talented person in the room, and if it’s not you, go stand next to him.”
― Austin Kleon, quote from Steal Like an Artist: 10 Things Nobody Told You About Being Creative

“If you’re worried about giving your secrets away, you can share your dots without connecting them.”
― Austin Kleon, quote from Steal Like an Artist: 10 Things Nobody Told You About Being Creative

“Pretend to be something you’re not until you are—fake it until you’re successful, until everybody sees you the way you want them.”
― Austin Kleon, quote from Steal Like an Artist: 10 Things Nobody Told You About Being Creative

“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.”
― Austin Kleon, quote from Steal Like an Artist: 10 Things Nobody Told You About Being Creative

“Enjoy your obscurity while it lasts.”
― Austin Kleon, quote from Steal Like an Artist: 10 Things Nobody Told You About Being Creative

“The thing is: It takes a lot of energy to be creative. You don’t have that energy if you waste it on other stuff.”
― Austin Kleon, quote from Steal Like an Artist: 10 Things Nobody Told You About Being Creative

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