The legendary cellist Pablo Cassals was asked why he continued to practice at age 90.
"Because I think I'm making progress," he replied.
"All the good ideas I ever had came to me while I was milking a cow." - Grant Wood
A poet is somebody who feels, and who expresses his feelings through words.
This may sound easy. It isn’t.
A lot of people think or believe or know they feel — but that’s thinking or believing or knowing; not feeling. And poetry is feeling — not knowing or believing or thinking.
Almost anybody can learn to think or believe or know, but not a single human being can be taught to feel. Why? Because whenever you think or you believe or you know, you’re a lot of other people: but the moment you feel, you’re nobody-but-yourself.
To be nobody-but-yourself — in a world which is doing its best, night and day, to make you everybody else — means to fight the hardest battle which any human being can fight; and never stop fighting. - ee cummings
Happiness was elusive to direct pursuit. Rather, its attainment required a wide-open attentiveness to reality, a benevolent curiosity about all that life has to offer, and a commitment not to argue with its offerings but to accept them as they come, congruous or incongruous as they may be with our desires.
After seeing these pictures you end up finally not knowing any more whether a jukebox is sadder than a coffin.
—Jack Kerouac, introduction to The Americans by Robert Frank
“There is nothing more difficult for a truly creative painter than to paint a rose, because before he can do so he has first to forget all the roses that were ever painted.” - Henri Matisse
“Do stuff. Be clenched, curious. Not waiting for inspiration's shove or society's kiss on your forehead. Pay attention. It's all about paying attention. Attention is vitality. It connects you with others. It makes you eager. Stay eager.” ― Susan Sontag
What a life is ours – doesn’t anyone want get up in the middle of the night and sing?
I was lost, but this was the right way after all – if this is lost, let us be lost always.
The black oak is pleased to be a black oak.
May I be the tiniest nail in the universe. Tiny but useful.
Attention is the beginning of devotion. - Mary Oliver
"Fiction writers are lucky in the sense that they can imagine anything. I am not good at imagining things; I’m most interested in finding the strangeness and irony in reality. That’s my forte.” - Mary Ellen Marks
“Do stuff. Be clenched, curious. Not waiting for inspiration's shove or society's kiss on your forehead. Pay attention. It's all about paying attention. Attention is vitality. It connects you with others. It makes you eager. Stay eager.”
― Susan Sontag
How to be creative like a kid
Always have a \ box of Crayola crayons around so you can color a picture and put it on the fridge.
Do something every day that will make you giggle. Better yet, do it multiple times daily.
Take something with you when you’re in public to occupy yourself creatively in case you get bored and cranky.
If you don’t know the answer to a problem, take a guess.
Draw your ideas, even if the lines are crooked or it’s tough to tell exactly what it is.
If something isn’t making sense, be sure to scrunch your face so it’s apparent to everybody!