Quotes About Creativity

That's what a writer is -- a conqueror of fears.

Perhaps all artists were, in a sense, housewives: tenders of the earth household.

What we remember lacks the hard edge of fact. To help us along we create little fictions, highly subtle and individual scenarios which clarify and shape our experience. The remembered event becomes a fiction, a structure made to accommodate certain feelings. This is obvious to me. If it weren't for these structures, art would be too personal for the artist to create, much less for the audience to grasp. Even film, the most literal of all the arts, is edited. —Jerzy Kosinski

You want to be a poet and not die.

Novices in the arts think you have to start with inspiration to write or paint or compose. In fact, you only have to start. Inspiration comes if you continue. Make the commitment to sit still in solitude several hours a day and inevitably your muse will visit.

Who were my fictitious witches and what did they mean? Never ask that of yourself while writing. It may stop you cold. Just trust that if you believe in your characters, others will too. ... Whenever I thought too critically about my work, I couldn't write.

I discovered the secret of writing - live in the present moment. Do not fantasize about possible response because you cannot know the future.

We have let Eros mean slavery, but Eros also has the power to set us free. We must demand the right to depict women's lives as we know them, not as we might like them to be. We must stop applying political prescriptions to creativity.

If I loved him, would I censor my writing to please him? If I married him, would I force my writing to be married as well?

Every woman artist has to kill her own grandmother. She perches on our shoulder whispering, Don't embarrass the family.

I went for years not finishing anything because, of course, when you finish something you can be judged.

Kad ne pišemo, mu?e nas takve trivijalne brige u kojima je središnja tema naš ego, ego, ego, pa i kriti?ari govore o toj istoj temi - ego, ego, ego. ?iji potpis? ?ija knjiga? Koja nagrada? Ali, jezik nema odre?enog autora - baš kao što rijeka ne brije ho?e li ostati u nekoj državi.

There is nothing fiercer than a failed artist. The energy remains, but, having no outlet, it implodes in a great black fart of rage which smokes up all the inner windows of the soul.

Non c'è niente di più terribile di un artista mancato. L'energia rimane, ma, priva com'è di una valvola di sfogo, implode in un gigantesco peto nero di rabbia che offusca tutte le finestre interne dell'anima. Anche se gli artisti di successo sono spesso orribili, non c'è niente di più crudele o vano di un artista fallito.

I am nailed to the cross of my imagination.

Everyone has talent. What is rare is the courage to follow it to the dark places where it leads.

There is nothing fiercer than a failed artist. The energy remains, but having no outlet, it implodes in a great fart of rage which smokes up all the inner windows of the soul.

Il y a des hommes qui ont le pouvoir de raconter des histoires que chacun croit être siennes : ce sont les écrivains. »

Od urodzenia zauwa?aÅ'a rzeczy, na które nikt inny nie zwracaÅ' uwagi: w chmurach dostrzegaÅ'a twarze, poÅ›ród pary, która po deszczu okrywa mgÅ'Ä… leÅ›ne poszycie, podziwiaÅ'a taÅ"czÄ…ce duchy. Kiedy przyglÄ…daÅ'a siÄ™ bryÅ'om ziemi, odkrywaÅ'a w nich ksztaÅ'ty, które nam umykaÅ'y, widziaÅ'a na przykÅ'ad konia i odsÅ'aniaÅ'a go, babrzÄ…c siÄ™ w glinie, szlifujÄ…c i wygÅ'adzajÄ…c.

To wyobra?nia wyró?nia, wyobra?nia przeÅ'amuje pospolito??, powtarzalno??, jednolito??. W przeznaczeniu zabawek dostrzegÅ'em przeznaczenie ludzi: tylko wyobra?nia, tworzÄ…c fikcjÄ™ i wymarzone wiÄ™zi, rodzi coÅ› oryginalnego. Bez niej bylibyÅ›myy podobni, zbyt podobni, zbli?eni do siebie, rozpÅ'aszczeni jeden na drugich w koszach rzeczywistoÅ›ci.

Och, mógÅ' dyskutowa? w szeÅ›ciu czy siedmiu jÄ™zykach, ale có? takiego mówiÅ'? Rozmowa kulaÅ'a. Nic oryginalnego nie przechodziÅ'o mu przez gÅ'owÄ™ nafaszerowanÄ… sÅ'ownictwem, nic, ?aden nowy obraz, ?adna osobista opinia, ?adna dowcipna uwaga. Zero. ByÅ' jak kaleka bez nóg posadzony na najnowoczeÅ›niejszym na Å›wiecie rowerze.

Freedom to creat and construct, to wonder and to venture. Such freedom requires that the individual be active and responsible, not a slave or a well-fed cog in the machine . . . It is not enough that men are not slaves; if social conditions further the existence of automatons, the result will not be love of life, but love of death.

Conditions for creativity are to be puzzled, to concentrate, to accept conflict and tension, to be born every day, to feel a sense of self.

The polarity between the male and female principles exists also within each man and each woman. Just as physiologically man and woman each have hormones of the opposite sex, they are bisexual also in the psychological sense. They carry in themselves the principle of receiving and of penetrating, of matter and of spirit. Man—and woman—finds union within himself only in the union of his female and his male polarity. This polarity is the basis for all creativity.