Austin Kleon Quotes

Your job is to collect good ideas. The more good ideas you collect, the more you can choose from to be influenced by. ~ Austin Kleon

You don't want to look like your heroes, you want to see like your heroes. ~ Austin Kleon

Don't throw any of yourself away. Don't worry about a grand scheme or unified vision for your work. Don't worry about unity
what unifies your work is the fact that you made it. One day you'll look back and it will all make sense. ~ Austin Kleon

Don't worry about unity from piece to piece - what unifies all of your work is the fact that you made it. ~ Austin Kleon

Mental scrapbooks form our tastes, and our tastes influence our work. ~ Austin Kleon

The best way to vanquish your enemies on the Internet? Ignore them. ~ Austin Kleon

Inertia is the death of creativity. You have to stay in the groove. When you get out of the groove, you start to dread the work, because you know it's going to suck for a while - it's going to suck until you get back into the flow. ~ Austin Kleon

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

One thing I've learned in my brief career: It's the side projects that really take off. By side projects I mean the stuff that you thought was just messing around. Stuff that's just play. That's actually the good stuff. That's when the magic happens. ~ Austin Kleon

Think about what you have to share that could be of some value to people. Share a handy tip you've discovered while working. Or a link to an interesting article. Mentition a good book you're reading. ~ Austin Kleon

Nothing is original. It says it right there in the Bible. Ecclesiastes:
That which has been is what will be, That which is done is what will be done, And there is nothing new under the sun.
Every new idea is just a mashup or a remix of previous ideas. ~ Austin Kleon

The only mofos in my circle are people that I can learn from. ~ Austin Kleon

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: ~ Austin Kleon

Life is a lonely bussiness ~ Austin Kleon

Whenever you're at a loss for what move to make next, just ask yourself, What would make a betterstory? ~ Austin Kleon

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. ~ Austin Kleon

The German writer Goethe said, "We are shaped and fashioned by what we love." "We ~ Austin Kleon

A wonderful flaw about human beings is that we're incapable of making perfect copies. Our failure to copy our heroes is where we discover where our own thing lives. That is how we evolve. ~ Austin Kleon

Like one of his heroes, Tom Waits, whenever Yorke feels like his songwriting is getting too comfortable or stale, he'll pick up an instrument he doesn't know how to play and try to write with it. This is yet another trait of amateurs - they'll use whatever tools they can get their hands on to try to get their ideas into the world. "I'm an artist, man," said John Lennon. "Give me a tuba, and I'll get you something out of it. ~ Austin Kleon

Always be reading. Go to the library. There's magic in being surrounded by books. Get lost in the stacks. Read bibliographies. It's not the book you start with, it's the book that book leads you to. 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." Don't worry about doing research. Just search. ~ Austin Kleon

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

Many of the people who we think of as lone geniuses were actually part of a whole scene of people who were supporting each other, looking at each other's work, copying from each other, stealing ideas, and contributing ideas. ~ Austin Kleon

But whatever the nature of your work, there is an art to what you do, and there are people who would be interested in that art, if only you presented it to them in the right way. ~ Austin Kleon

If you ask yourself 'What's the best thing that happened today?' It actually forces a certain kind of cheerful retrospection that pulls up from the recent past things to write about that you wouldn't otherwise think about. ~ Austin Kleon

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

We don't make movies to make money, we make money to make more movies. - Walt Disney ~ Austin Kleon

The trick is not caring what EVERYBODY thinks of you and just caring about what the RIGHT people think of you. - Brian Michael Bendis ~ Austin Kleon

Writing a page each day doesn't seem like much, but do it for 365 days and you have enough to fill a novel. ~ Austin Kleon

Copying is about reverse-engineering. ~ Austin Kleon

You can't count on success; you can only leave open the possibility for it, and be ready to jump on and take the ride when it comes for you. ~ Austin Kleon

Validation is for parking. ~ Austin Kleon

Chew on one thinker-writer, activist, role model- you really love. Study everything there is to know about that thinker. Then find three people the thinker loved and find out everything about them. Repeat this as many times as you can. Climb up the tree as far as you can go. Once you built your tree, it's time to start your own branch. ~ Austin Kleon

The minute you stop wanting something you get it. - Andy Warhol Chain-smoking ~ Austin Kleon

Make stuff you love and talk about stuff you love and you'll attract people who love that kind of stuff. It's that simple. ~ Austin Kleon

Art that only comes from the head isn't any good. ~ Austin Kleon

And Conan O'Brien tried to be David Letterman but ended up Conan O'Brien. In O'Brien's words, It is our failure to become our perceived ideal that ultimately defines us and makes us unique. ~ Austin Kleon

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. You are, in fact, a mashup of what you choose to let into your life. You are the sum of your influences. The German writer Goethe said, We are shaped and fashioned by what we love. ~ Austin Kleon

Pretend to be something you're not until you are - fake it until you're successful, until everybody sees you the way you want them. ~ Austin Kleon

Everybody loves a good story, but good storytelling doesn't come easy to everybody. It's a skill that takes a lifetime to master. So study the great stories and then go find some of your own. Your stories will get better the more you tell them. ~ Austin Kleon

Part of the art of creating is in discovering your own kind. They are everywhere. But don't look for them in the wrong places
Henry Miller
As you put yourself and your work out there, you will run into your fellow knuckleballers. These are your real peers-the people who share your obsessions, the people who share a similar mission to your own, the people with whom you share a mutual respect. There will only be a handful or so of them, but they're so, so important. Do what you can to nurture your relationships with these people. Show them work before you show anybody else. Keep them as close as you can. ~ Austin Kleon

If you want to be more effective when sharing yourself and your work, you need to become a better storyteller. ~ Austin Kleon

The work you do while you procrastinate is probably the work you should be doing for the rest of your life. - Jessica Hische ~ Austin Kleon

You'll never get that freedom back again once people start paying you attention, and especially not once they start paying you money. ~ Austin Kleon

We all love things that other people think are garbage. You have to have the courage to keep loving your garbage, because what makes us unique is the diversity and breadth of our influences, the unique ways in which we mix up the parts of culture others have deemed "high" and the "low."
When you find things you genuinely enjoy, don't let anyone else make you feel bad about it. Don't feel guilty about the pleasure you take in the things you enjoy. Celebrate them. ~ Austin Kleon

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. ~ Austin Kleon

We were kids without fathers ... so we found our fathers on wax and on the streets and in history. We got to pick and choose the ancestors who would inspire the world we were going to make for ourselves. - Jay-Z ~ Austin Kleon

I don't know for sure what kinds of flowers I'm planting with my days on this planet, but I intend to find out, and so should you. ~ Austin Kleon

Complain about the way other people make software by making software. ~ Austin Kleon

When you open up your process and invite people in, you learn. ~ Austin Kleon

You can turn your flow into stock. ~ Austin Kleon

Keep your own list, or get an account with an email newsletter company like MailChimp and put a little sign-up widget on every page of your website. ~ Austin Kleon

Scenius." Under this model, great ideas are often birthed by a group of creative individuals - artists, curators, thinkers, theorists, and other tastemakers - who make up an "ecology of talent. ~ Austin Kleon

Nothing is more paralyzing than the idea of limitless possibilities. ~ Austin Kleon

The golden rule is even more golden in our hyperconnected world. An important lesson to learn: If you talk about someone on the Internet, they will find out. Everybody has a Google alert on their name. ~ Austin Kleon

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

If you want followers, be someone worth following. ~ Austin Kleon

Be ambitious. Keep yourself busy. Think bigger. Expand your audience. Don't hobble yourself in the name of "keeping it real," or "not selling out." Try new things. If an opportunity comes along that will allow you to do more of the kind of work you want to do, say Yes. If an opportunity comes long that would mean more money, but less of the kind of work you want to do, say No. ~ Austin Kleon

We all have the opportunity to use our voices, to have our say, but so many of us are wasting it. ~ Austin Kleon

Take time to be bored. One time I heard a coworker say, When I get busy, I get stupid. ~ Austin Kleon

The thing is, you can cut off a couple passions and only focus on one, but after a while, you'll start to feel phantom limb pain. ~ Austin Kleon

All the world's a stage. Creative work is a kind of theater. The stage is your studio, your desk, or your workstation. The costume is your outfit - your painting pants, your business suit, or that funny hat that helps you think. The props are your materials, your tools, and your medium. The script is just plain old time. An hour here, or an hour there - just time measured out for things to happen. ~ Austin Kleon

All you need is a little space and a little time - a place to work, and some time to do it; a little self-imposed solitude and temporary captivity. ~ Austin Kleon

You don't have to live anywhere other than the place you are to start connecting with the world you want to be in. ~ Austin Kleon

Human beings want to know where things came from, how they were made, and who made them. The stories you tell about the work you do have a huge effect on how people feel and what they understand about your work, and how people feel and what they understand about your work effects how they value it. ~ Austin Kleon

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

Remember: Even The Beatles started as a cover band. ~ Austin Kleon

It's so important to have a hobby. A hobby is something creative that's just for you. You don't try to make money or get famous off it, you just do it because it makes you happy. A hobby is something that gives you but doesn't take. ~ Austin Kleon

People love it when you give your secrets away, and sometimes, if you're smart about it, they'll reward you by buying the things you're selling. ~ Austin Kleon

Don't show your lunch or your latte; show your work. ~ Austin Kleon

Relax and breathe. The trouble with imaginative people is that we're good at picturing the worst that could happen to us. Fear is often just the imagination taking a wrong turn. Bad criticism is not the end of the world. As far as I know, no one has ever died from a bad review. Take a deep breath and accept whatever comes. ~ Austin Kleon

The right constraints can lead to your very best work. My favorite example? Dr. Seuss wrote The Cat in the Hat with only 236 different words, so his editor bet him he couldn't write a book with only 50 different words. Dr. Seuss came back and won the bet with Green Eggs and Ham, one of the bestselling children's books of all time. ~ Austin Kleon

Social media sites are the perfect place to share daily updates. Don't worry about being on every platform; pick and choose based on what you do and the people you're trying to reach. ~ Austin Kleon

Conan O'Brien has talked about how comedians try to emulate their heroes, fall short, and end up doing their own thing. Johnny Carson tried to be Jack Benny but ended up Johnny Carson. David Letterman tried to copy Johnny Carson but ended up David Letterman. And Conan O'Brien tried to be David Letterman but ended up Conan O'Brien. In O'Brien's words, "It is our failure to become our perceived ideal that ultimately defines us and makes us unique." Thank goodness. ~ Austin Kleon

Become a documentarian of what you do. ~ Austin Kleon

How does an artist look at the world? First, you figure out what's worth stealing, then you move on to the next thing. That's about all there is to it. When you look at the world this way, you stop worrying about what's "good" and what's "bad" - there's only stuff worth stealing, and stuff that's not worth stealing. ~ Austin Kleon

Keep all your passions in your life. ~ Austin Kleon

Whenever Picasso learned how to do something, he abandoned it. ~ Austin Kleon

What to copy is a little bit trickier. Don't just steal the style, steal the thinking behind the style. ~ Austin Kleon

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

You're never "keeping it real" with your lack of punctuation and proofreading, you're keeping it unintelligible. ~ Austin Kleon

Obituaries are like near-death experiences for cowards. ~ Austin Kleon

To be "interest-ing" is to be curious and attentive, and to practice "the continual projection of interest." To put it more simply: If you want to be interesting, you have to be interested. ~ Austin Kleon

We found the future, like birds fly into windows. ~ Austin Kleon

Try it: Instead of keeping a rejection file, keep a praise file. Use it sparingly - don't get lost in past glory - but keep it around for when you need the lift. ~ Austin Kleon

Do good work and share it with people. ~ Austin Kleon

Remember what writer Colin Marshall says: Compulsive avoidance of embarrassment is a form of suicide. ~ Austin Kleon

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. ~ Austin Kleon

The trick is to find a day job that pays decently, doesn't make you want to vomit, and leaves you with enough energy to make things in your spare time. Good day jobs aren't necessarily easy to find, but they're out there. ~ Austin Kleon

If you want to be a writer, you have to be a reader first. ~ Austin Kleon

My motto for creativity-
And remember, STEAL LIKE AN ARTIST. ~ Austin Kleon

It takes a lot of energy to be creative. You don't have that energy if you waste it on other stuff. ~ Austin Kleon

Imitation is about copying. Emulation is when imitation goes one step further, breaking through into your own thing. ~ Austin Kleon

Franz Kafka wrote, "It isn't necessary that you leave home. Sit at your desk and listen. Don't even listen, just wait. Don't wait, be still and alone. The whole world will offer itself to you." And Kafka was born a century before the Internet! ~ Austin Kleon

You don't put yourself online only because you have something to say - you can put yourself online to find something to say. ~ Austin Kleon

To be on brand is to be 100% certain of who you are and what you do, and certainly, in art and in life, is not only completely overrated, it is also a roadblock to discovery. Uncertainty is the very thing that art thrives on. ~ Austin Kleon

A good pitch is set up in three acts: The first act is the past, the second act is the present, and the third act is the future. ~ Austin Kleon

In fact, sharing your process might actually be most valuable if the products of your work aren't easily shared, ~ Austin Kleon

Eat breakfast. Do some push-ups. Go for long walks. Get plenty of sleep. ~ Austin Kleon

What Now? Talk a walk Start your swipe file Go to the library Buy a notebook and use it Get yourself a calendar Start your logbook Give a copy of this book away Start a blog Take a nap ~ Austin Kleon

There is a kind of fallout that happens when you leave college. The classroom is a wonderful, if artificial, place: Your professor gets paid to pay attention to your ideas, and your classmates are paying to pay attention to your ideas. Never again in your life will you have such a captive audience. ~ Austin Kleon