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. Austin Kleon More Quotes by Austin Kleon More Quotes From Austin Kleon There’s an economic theory out there that if you take the incomes of your five closest friends and average them, the resulting number will be pretty close to your own income. Austin Kleon numbers average thinking Read deeply. Stay open. Continue to wonder. Austin Kleon wonder Your brain gets too comfortable in your everyday surroundings. You need to make it uncomfortable. You need to spend some time in another land, among people that do things differently than you. Travel makes the world look new, and when the world looks new, our brains work harder. Austin Kleon hard-work land people 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. Austin Kleon people ideas art The more good ideas you collect, the more you can choose from to be influenced by. Austin Kleon good-ideas ideas 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." Austin Kleon reading inspirational book There's a balance between what you want to give the world and what it needs. If you're lucky, your work is in the middle. Austin Kleon balance lucky giving The artist is a collector. Not a hoarder, mind you, there's a difference: Hoarders collect indiscriminately, artists collect selectively. They only collect things that they really love. Austin Kleon differences artist mind Don't worry about doing research. Just search. Austin Kleon research worry The people who get what they’re after are very often the ones who just stick around long enough. Austin Kleon persistence long people 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. Austin Kleon creative trying inspirational If we're free from the burden of trying to be completely original, we can stop trying to make something out of nothing, and we can embrace influence instead of running from it. Austin Kleon influence running trying There's an intuition learned through our work. Teaching others doesn't mean they can just go out and replicate it. Austin Kleon intuition teaching mean You'll either find the answer or you'll come up with a better question. Austin Kleon come-up answers Today isn't just another day. Today I'll create something beautiful. Austin Kleon another-day beautiful today Inertia is the death of creativity Austin Kleon inertia creativity Don't think of your website as a self-promotion machine, think of it as a self-invention machine. Austin Kleon machines self thinking The best advice is not to write what you know, it's to write what you like. Austin Kleon best-advice writing advice Establishing and keeping a routine can be even more important than having a lot of time. Austin Kleon routine important Do good work and share it with people. Austin Kleon good-work share people
