The degree to which we connect to a community is in proportion to our individuality. Rodney Mullen More Quotes by Rodney Mullen More Quotes From Rodney Mullen The biggest obstacle to creativity is breaking through the barrier of disbelief. Rodney Mullen disbelief obstacles creativity Don't let anything poison your individuality. Break away & look in, not outward. Rodney Mullen individuality poison looks I fell in love with skateboarding because it was individual; there were no teams, there were no captains, there was nothing to perfect. No style that had to be measured. It was completely opposite of what I saw in so many sports. It was creative. And to this day, that's what I love, that's always kept me back to it because it's endless creation. Rodney Mullen team opposites sports Skateboarding is as much, or more, an art of mode of expression than it is a sport. What skateboarding has given me is precisely that: a form of expression that drew me to it, and, in so doing, I was able to express and be who I wanted to be through it, in a sense. Rodney Mullen expression sports art Do what you love and try not to look at what other people occupy themselves with. Rodney Mullen trying people looks There's an intrinsic value in creating something for the sake of creating it. Rodney Mullen intrinsic-value creating sake Do what you love and try not to look at what other people occupy themselves with. Most people seem restless and bounce around too much to focus or even pay attention enough to themselves to figure out exactly what they really do love, as opposed to what the people that surround them are doing. Rodney Mullen focus trying people Who are you? What is your distinct contribution? That is so valuable whether it gets you anything or not. Trophies? Doesn't matter. If you know you did it, that's what keeps you going, you know? Success is illusive. Rodney Mullen trophies valuable matter It puts a ceiling on your progress. You're blocked by your pride. To get good, you have to throw your board around and fall. Rodney Mullen progress pride fall I can't wait to wake up and try something new. I can't sleep at night because I want to try something new. Rodney Mullen waiting sleep night Beethoven’s music always struck me. Always. He had this fire you know. I remember reading this story of him going deaf and pushing himself into self-isolation and that’s where he became himself. And to me that was, wow. Don’t let anything poison your individuality. Be away, break away and look in not outward. Rodney Mullen reading self fire What it is is that there's an intrinsic value in creating something for the sake of creating it, and better than that ... there is this beauty in dropping it into a community of your own making, and seeing it dispersed, and seeing younger, more talented, just different talent, take it to levels you can never imagine, because that lives on. Rodney Mullen creating community sake You build something but you cant live in the house because you sit around guarding it. Rodney Mullen cant guarding house Everyone expects me to do certain things. Rodney Mullen certain Any eyes on me - a late-night street sweeper, some dude texting in his parked car, the homeless guy talking to himself - make me feel uncomfortable when I skate. Everyone expects me to do certain things. Rodney Mullen eye talking night Vert skating was the kind of skating that was done in pools, where you could get airborne and be weightless. The other style, which is what I did, was called free style, which was tricks you could do on flat ground. Rodney Mullen skating style done Skaters, I think they tend to be outsiders who seek a sense of belonging, but belonging on their own terms, and real respect is given by how much we take what other guys do, these basic tricks, 360 flips, we take that, we make it our own, and then we contribute back to the community the inner way that edifies the community itself. Rodney Mullen think respect community way As a kid, I grew up on a farm in Florida, and I did what most little kids do. I played a little baseball, did a few other things like that, but I always had the sense of being an outsider, and it wasn't until I saw pictures in the magazines that a couple other guys skate, I thought, 'Wow, that's for me,' you know? Rodney Mullen pictures thought me you I've been all around the world, and there will be a thousand kids crying out your name, and it's such a weird, visceral experience. It's like, it's disorienting. Rodney Mullen weird name experience world It wasn't until '79 I won my first amateur championship, and then, by '81, I was 14, and I won my first world championship, which was amazing to me, and in a very real sense, that was the first real victory I had. Rodney Mullen amazing me victory world
