creativity + art + design quotes

In this small world,
Where here shall I
Turn my eyes?
It is deep and immense.
- Frida Kahlo

A good dancer or musician allows the music to take over, becomes absorbed in the complex harmonies and tempos, and is the servant of the materials at hand. The secret of a soul-based life is to allow someone or something other than the usual self to be in charge.
- Thomas Moore, The Original Self

Mozart is said to have asked, “What would music sound like if the notes loved each other?”

The human soul is hungry for beauty; we seek it everywhere—
in landscape, music, art, clothes, furniture, gardening, companionship, love, religion, and in ourselves.
When we experience the Beautiful, there is a wonderful sense of homecoming; we feel fully alive. Our lives become illuminated and we come to glimpse behind the shudder of appearances,
the sure form of things.

Beauty is the true priestess of individuation.
But our times are dominated by anxiety and by what is vulgar, coarse, and artificial.
Were Beauty to awaken in the fields of politics, religion, planning, discourse, and seeing, our world
would heal and fresh wells of hope would refresh us.

- John O’Donohue, Beauty: The Invisible Embrace

If you're at a dead end, take a deep breath, stamp your foot, and shout "Begin!" You never know where it will take you.
- Twyla Tharp, The Creative Habit

A great many people come to me hoping they can change themselves, settle their anxieties. They want to know how to handle life better. When an artist comes to me, they want to know how to change the world.
- Martin Wexler {aka Frank Gehry's therapist}

Silence is so accurate.
- Mark Rothko

Writing a novel is like trying to knock together a chicken coop in the middle of a hurricane.
- Faulkner

Advice for writers:
show up, pay attention, tell the truth, and don't be attached to results.
- Rosellen Brown

Inspiration is very polite. She knocks softly and then goes away if we don't answer the door.
- Mary Pipher