Quotes about creativity

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.

Don't worry about a grand scheme or unified vision for your work. [...] What unifies your work is the fact that you made it. One day, you'll look back and it will all make sense.

Be open, share imperfect and unfinished work that you want feedback on, but don't share absolutely everything. [...] The act of sharing is one of generosity— you're putting something out there because you think it might be helpful or entertaining to someone on the other side of the screen.

"Dumpster diving" is one of the jobs of the artist— finding the treasure in other people's trash, sifting through the debris of our culture, paying attention to the stuff that everyone else is ignoring, and taking inspiration from the stuff that people have tossed aside for whatever reasons. [...] All it takes to uncover hidden gems is a clear eye, an open mind, and a willingness to search for inspiration in places other people aren't willing or able to go.

Initially what is important is to be able to successfully make a useful object over which the maker can exclaim, with pleasure and amazement, 'I made this myself!

When as a society we fail to help all people have confidence in their ability to create, we are doubly wasteful. First, we lose from society’s reservoir the creative potential of so many, and second we see those who are left out lose well-being and emotional security.

Creativity, like society, thrives when the individual elements fit within, and add to, a bigger picture.

That’s how ideas are generated. Unusual combinations, mixing old and new, stimulate original ideas, that is, ideas with origins.

Creativity is a constant process of call and response taking place inside our heads. If all is going well, the question–answer routine is like the two sides of our brain working together as if in an inner-cranial pas de deux.

The problem is, some of us have either convinced ourselves that we are not creative, or are yet to find our way. Confidence in our own creativity can wane. Which is bad. Confidence is crucial. In my experience artists, like a lot of us, fear being “found out.” But somehow they manage to summon up enough self-belief to overcome the self-doubt, which enables them to back their creativity. The Beatles were just a bunch of young lads with time on their hands who found the confidence to persuade themselves and then the world that they were musicians.

If at first you don’t succeed, don’t try exactly the same thing again. You won’t succeed, again. Instead, have a think, evaluate, correct, modify and then try again. Creativity is an iterative process.

To give up before we even start, using low self-esteem or lack of qualifications as an excuse, is, frankly, gutless. As human beings we are all born with not only the wherewithal to be creative, but also the need.