Austin Kleon Quotes

The best advice is not to write what you know, it's to write what you like.

Copying is about reverse-engineering.

The computer brings out the uptight perfectionist in us - we start editing ideas before we have them.

Usually, when we talk about creativity, it's about self-expression, which is great, but for work to be art or design, there has to be someone on the other end. The audience makes the work come alive.

Don't worry about doing research. Just search.

You can’t be content with mastery; you have to push yourself to become a student again.

You'll either find the answer or you'll come up with a better question.

The only way to find your voice is to use it. It’s hardwired, built into you. Talk about the things you love. Your voice will follow.

When people give advice, they're really just talking to themselves in the past.

Nothing is more paralyzing than the idea of limitless possibilities.

Establishing and keeping a routine can be even more important than having a lot of time.

School is one thing. Education is another. The two don’t always overlap. Whether you’re in school or not, it’s always your job to get yourself an education.

Become a documentarian of what you do.

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.

Obituaries are like near-death experiences for cowards.

Don't wait until you know who you are to get started.

Marriage is two people in love standing in the same bathroom

If I'd waited to know who I was or what I was about before I started "being creative," well, I'd still be sitting around trying to figure myself out instead of making things. In my experience, it's in the act of making things and doing our work that we figure out who we are.

Read deeply. Stay open. Continue to wonder.

Every new idea is just a mashup or a remix of one or more previous ideas.

Every artist gets asked the question, 'Where do you get your ideas?' The honest artist answers, 'I steal them.'

You’re only going to be as good as the stuff you surround yourself with.

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

If you’re worried about giving your secrets away, you can share your dots without connecting them.

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

We're always being told 'find your voice.' When I was younger, I never really knew what this meant. I used to worry a lot about voice, wondering if I had my own. But now I realize that the only way to find your voice is to use it. It's hardwired, built into you. Talk about the things you love. Your voice will follow.

Not everybody will get it. People will misinterpret you and what you do. They might even call you names. So get comfortable with being misunderstood, disparaged, or ignored -- the trick is to be too busy doing your work to care.

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. The same principle applies to your life and your career.

The only way to find your voice is to use it

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.

It's in the act of making things that we figure out who we are.

Art that only comes from the head isn't any good. Watch any good musician and you'll see what I mean.

Today isn't just another day. Today I'll create something beautiful.

Genealogy of ideas. You don’t get to pick your family, but you can pick your teachers and you can pick your friends and you can pick the music you listen to and you can pick the books you read and you can pick the movies you see.

What a good artist understands is that nothing comes from nowhere. All creative work builds on what came before. Nothing is completely original.

We found the future, like birds fly into windows.

The people who get what they’re after are very often the ones who just stick around long enough.

Show your work, and when the right people show up, pay close attention to them, because they'll have a lot to show you.

It sounds a little extreme, but in this day and age, if your work isn't online, it doesn't exist.

That’s the thing you have to understand about the whole process of art (or the work that we do) – you’re only half of the equation. It’s an interaction between you and the person who’s going to experience the work. The person who’s going to experience the work is bringing just as much to it and is just as important as you are.

There's an intuition learned through our work. Teaching others doesn't mean they can just go out and replicate it.

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."

Amateurs know that contributing something is better than contributing nothing.

Art is theft”) and Igor Stravinsky (“Lesser artists borrow, great artists steal”), I’ve always stolen from the people I admire – not plagiarized, mind you, but stolen bits of ideas and stylistic influences. If you steal widely enough, after all, your models are inevitably changed and the result is in the end completely yours. Kleon cites André Gide to this point, in a quotation I love: “Everything that needs to be said has already been said. But, since no one was listening, everything must be said again.

So go on, get angry. But keep your mouth shut and go do your work.

You're ready. Start making stuff.

Enjoy your obscurity while it lasts.

Google everything. I mean everything. Google your dreams, Google your problems. Don’t ask a question before you Google it. You’ll either find the answer or you’ll come up with a better question.