Quotes About Craftsmanship

It goes without saying that a good Catholic novel should be good craftsmanship, good writing skills. The creative person must always be engaged in the long labor of perfecting the tools of his art. Yet the work itself need not be explicitly evangelical in its themes and plots.

My approach to 'Eastenders' is the same as my approach to film and the same approach to theatre. Whatever I do, I use the same skills and tools.

Writing a song is much like being an author. Yes, we all have tools to write (everyone has a brain I hope!), but that doesn't all of a sudden make us best selling authors.

I don't want to wear my compositional tools on my sleeve.

Some records with drum machines on them sound phony and plastic. It all depends on how you use the tools.

In Scotland, I have a huge barn full of woodworking tools. I love working with my hands. I basically just make myself bleed a lot. I'm very accident-prone.

The only thing I knew how to do without a lot of money was repairing tools. I actually started making and repairing tools for machines.

It is deep in our nature to make tools.

As I got a little older, I discovered Lori McKenna and Patty Griffin and found out how many other tools we have as songwriters, that there's storytelling and there's ear candy, and that there is a place where they meet, too, and both of those women are really good at doing that.

I collect as many acoustic guitars as I need for a specific purpose. Acoustic guitars are really just tools for me.

Every single item that we come into contact with on a daily basis has been designed by an artist. From the toothbrush we use in the morning, to the defibrillator that could save our lives, an artist is behind the design.

When you cut that eggplant up and you roast it in the oven and you make the tomato sauce and you put it on top, your soul is in that food, and there's something about that that can never be made by a company that has three million employees.

I'm not a baker, but my patisserie is my baby. I love the idea of good-quality cakes made with top ingredients.

Starting at age 6, I was helping install the Formica table tops with that strong glue. My dad was the master. I was the apprentice. I'd be in there working until I'd be telling him, 'I feel woozy,' and he'd say, 'Go outside, son.' So I'd go organize his tools. He used the best ones made.

Engineers don't have that sixth sense where we can just toss in things here and there like many chefs.

Working with Bryan Cranston on 'Breaking Bad' has been totally thrilling because he is so clear in his approach.

Ritu Kumar's clothes are totally great. Her embroidery is perfect. She lives up to her name over and over again.

She sat still, I thought, and yet she traveled. And when one stitches, the mind travels, not the way men do, with ax and oxen through the wilderness, but surely our traveling counted too, as motion. And I thought of the patience of the stitches. Writing a book, I thought, which men often do, but women only rarely, has the posture of sewing. One hand leads, and the other hand helps. And books, like quilts, are made, one word at a time, one stitch at a time.

All art is an imitation of nature.

I would much prefer their minds to be engaged in the deadly arts than clouded with dreams of marriage and fortune, as your own so clearly is!

Cedar groaned and picked up her spoon with her bright blue fingers. While the rest of her was the fiery brown of the cedar wood she'd been carved from, her fingers were covered in blue paint up to her knuckles. You could tell a lot about Cedar's current art projects by the color of her fingers. She didn't mind getting messy. She just sanded the paint off.

So you carry needle and thread about in your pockets, do you?" Sophia asked. "My tailor insists.

Don't be in too much of a rush to be published. There is enormous value in listening and reading and writing—and then putting your words away for weeks or months–and then returning to your work to polish it some more.

Like an artist who sees the finished work in his mind's eye, God saw your unformed substance and then began to fashion you from head to toe. He made no mistakes but planned each detail of your being. He is the masterful Potter who formed you and shaped your unique features. You are one of a kind.