01UndatedBe 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 ↗
03UndatedDraw 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 ↗
05UndatedCollect 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.Austin Kleon / quote ↗
06UndatedPablo Picasso was notorious for sucking the energy out of the people he met. His granddaughter Marina claimed that he squeezed people like one of his tubes of oil paints. You's have a great time hanging out all day with Picasso, and then you's go home nervous and exhausted, and Picasso would go back to his studio and paint all night, using the energy he'd sucked out of you.Austin Kleon / quote ↗
08UndatedIf you ever find that you're the most talented person in the room, you need to find another room.Austin Kleon / quote ↗
11UndatedNobody is born with a style or a voice. We don't out of the womb knowing who we are. In the beginning, we learn by pretending to be our heroes. We learn by copying.Austin Kleon / quote ↗
13UndatedFind the most talented person in the room, and if it’s not you, go stand next to him. Hang out with him. Try to be helpful. If you ever find that you’re the most talented person in the room, you need to find another room.Austin Kleon / quote ↗
14UndatedThe way to get over creative block is to simply place some constraints on yourself. It seems contradictory, but when it comes to creative work, limitations mean freedom.Austin Kleon / quote ↗
15UndatedIf you just mimic the surface of somebody’s work without understanding where they are coming from, your work will never be anything more than a knockoff.Austin Kleon / quote ↗
16UndatedForget about being an expert or a professional, and wear your amateurism (your heart, your love) on your sleeve. Share what you love, and the people who love the same things will find you.Austin Kleon / quote ↗
17UndatedEverybody says they want artists to make money and then when they do, everybody hates them for it. The word sellout is spit out by the bitterest, smallest parts of ourselves. Don't be one of those horrible fans who stops listening to your favorite band just because they have a hit single. Don't write off your friends because they've had a little bit of success. Don't be jealous when the people you like do well - celebrate their victory as if it's your own.Austin Kleon / quote ↗
18UndatedDon't think of your website as a self-promotion machine, think of it as a self-invention machine.Austin Kleon / quote ↗
19UndatedStrike all the adjectives from your bio. If you take photos, you're not an 'aspiring' photographer, you're not an 'amazing' photographer either. You're a photographer. Don't get cute. Don't brag. Just state the facts.Austin Kleon / quote ↗
20UndatedThe best way to get started on the path to sharing your work is to think about what you want to learn, and make a commitment to learning in front of others.Austin Kleon / quote ↗
21UndatedThe great thing about remote or dead masters is that they can't refuse you as an apprentice. You can learn whatever you want from them. They left their lesson plans in their work.Austin Kleon / quote ↗
22UndatedThe 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.Austin Kleon / quote ↗
23UndatedIt’s one of my theories that when people give you advice, they’re really just talking to themselves in the past.Austin Kleon / quote ↗
24UndatedDon’t talk to people you don’t want to talk to, and don’t talk about stuff you don’t want to talk about.Austin Kleon / quote ↗
