Austin Kleon

“Don't think of your website as a self-promotion machine, think of it as a self-invention machine.”

“If 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.”

“Life is a lonely business”

“Nobody 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.”

“Pablo 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.”

“Read deeply. Stay open. Continue to wonder.”

“Find 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.”

“Everybody 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.”

“Art that only comes from the head isn't any good.”

“Strike 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.”

“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.”

“My motto for creat”

“Write the book you want to read”

“It’s one of my theories that when people give you advice, they’re really just talking to themselves in the past.”

“The 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.”

“If you ever find that you're the most talented person in the room, you need to find another room.”

“The 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.”

“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.”

“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.”

“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.”