Empowering Quotes for Your Creative Journey

Powerful quotes that resonate with you provide a North Star and constellations to give you strength, motivation, and energy as you move along your creative journey. Keep them nearby and they will expand your mind, uplift your soul, and guide you along. Try using them in presentations, paint them on walls, pin them up to your bulletin board, or even jot them down on a slip of paper to tuck away in your wallet. 

What Are You Looking For? by Laura M. Johnson, Twin Cities Murals, 2022.

​(Please note: These quotes have been gathered lovingly from a variety of sources who first took the time, care, and attention to record them. Many thanks to my twin sister, Leslie, for sharing her favorite quotes, especially those by Marcus Aurelius and Michel de Montaigne, and to Julia Cameron, for the many awesome quotes collected in her powerful book and creative resource, The Artist’s Way.)
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​Creativity Quotes to Fuel Your Creative Journey:

• “The purpose of art is not a rarified, intellectual distillate – it is life, intensified, brilliant life.” – Alain Arias-Mission

• “What we play is life.” – Louis Armstrong

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• “This you must always bear in mind, what is the nature of this whole, and what is my nature, and how this relates to that, and what kind of a part it is of what kind of a whole; and that there is no one who hinders you from always doing and saying the things that conform to the nature of which you are a part.” – Marcus Aurelius

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• "'Fortunate' means that a man has assigned to himself a good fortune: and a good fortune is good disposition of the soul, good emotions, good actions." - Marcus Aurelius

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• "Tranquility is nothing else than the good ordering of the mind." - Marcus Aurelius (This quote is from a longer passage that I think you'd enjoy, so I'll include it in full next.)

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• "There is no retreat that is quieter or freer from trouble than a man's own soul, especially when he has within him such thoughts that by looking into them he is immediately in perfect tranquility, and tranquility is nothing else than the good ordering of the mind. Constantly then give to yourself this retreat, and renew yourself; and let your principles be brief and fundamental, which, as soon as your recur to them, will be sufficient to cleanse the soul completely, and to send you back free from all discontent with the things to which you return." - Marcus Aurelius

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• “Do not look straight around you to discover other men's ruling principles, but look straight to this, to what nature leads you, both universal nature through the things that happen to you, and your own nature through the acts you must perform. But every being ought to do that which is according to its constitution.” – Marcus Aurelius

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• “Trust in yourself. Your perceptions are often far more accurate than you are willing to believe.” – Claudia Black

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• “When you start a painting, it is somewhat outside you. At the conclusion, you seem to move inside the painting.” – Fernando Botero

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• “I want to be in the arena. I want to be brave with my life. And when we make the choice to dare greatly, we sign up to get our asses kicked. We can choose courage or we can choose comfort, but we can’t have both. Not at the same time.” - Brené Brown

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• “There is no innovation and creativity without failure. Period.” - Brené Brown

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• “Let go of who you think you’re supposed to be; embrace who you are.” - Brené Brown
  

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• “Perfectionism is a self destructive and addictive belief system that fuels this primary thought: If I look perfect, and do everything perfectly, I can avoid or minimize the painful feelings of shame, judgment, and blame.” - Brené Brown
  

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• “But do you know how old I will be by the time I learn to really play the piano / act / paint / write a decent play?" “Yes . . . the same age you will be if you don't.” ― Julia Cameron, The Artist's Way

• “In filling the well, think magic. Think delight. Think fun. Do not think duty. Do not do what you should do—spiritual sit-ups like reading a dull but recommended critical text. Do what intrigues you, explore what interests you; think mystery, not mastery.” ― Julia Cameron, The Artist's Way

• “Progress, not perfection, is what we should be asking of ourselves.”― Julia Cameron, The Artist's Way

• “Serious art is born from serious play.” ― Julia Cameron, The Artist's Way

• “No matter what your age or your life path, whether making art is your career or your hobby or your dream, it is not too late or too egotistical or too selfish or too silly to work on your creativity.” ― Julia Cameron, The Artist's Way

• “Slow down and enjoy life. It’s not only the scenery you miss by going too fast – you also miss the sense of where you are going and why.” – Eddie Cantor

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• “And above all, watch with glittering eyes the whole world around you because the greatest secrets are always hidden in the most unlikely places. Those who don't believe in magic will never find it.” ― Roald Dahl

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• “Do not fear mistakes – there are none.” Miles Davis

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• “No trumpets sound when the important decisions of our life are made. Destiny is made known silently.” – Agnes deMille

• "Whether I shall turn out to be the hero of my own life, or whether that station will be held by anybody else, these pages must show." Charles Dickens' David Copperfield

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• “Taking a new step, uttering a new word is what people fear most.” – Fyodor Dostoyevski

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• “Artists who seek perfection in everything are those who cannot attain it in anything.” – Eugene Delacroix

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• “Imagination is more important than knowledge.” – Albert Einstein

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• “I shall become a master in this art only after a great deal of practice.” – Erich Fromm

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• “Do whatever brings you to life, then. Follow your own fascinations, obsessions, and compulsions. Trust them. Create whatever causes a revolution in your heart.” ― Elizabeth Gilbert, Big Magic

• “It might have been done before, but it hasn’t been done by you!” ― Elizabeth Gilbert, Big Magic

• “The universe buries strange jewels deep within us all, and then stands back to see if we can find them.” ― Elizabeth Gilbert, Big Magic

• “So this, I believe, is the central question upon which all creative living hinges: Do you have the courage to bring forth the treasures that are hidden within you?” ― Elizabeth Gilbert, Big Magic

• “You can measure your worth by your dedication to your path, not by your successes or failures.” ― Elizabeth Gilbert, Big Magic

• “Perfectionism is just fear in fancy shoes and a mink coat,” ― Elizabeth Gilbert, Big Magic

• “Argue for your limitations and you get to keep them.” ― Elizabeth Gilbert, Big Magic

• “There is a vitality, a life force, an energy, a quickening, that is translated through you into action, and because there is only one of you in all time, this expression is unique. And if you block it, it will never exist through any other medium and will be lost.” – Martha Graham

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• “Art does not reproduce the visible; rather, it makes it visible. The moon develops creativity as chemicals develop photographic images.” – Norma Jean Harris

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• “Take your life in your own hands and what happens? A terrible thing: no one to blame.” – Erica Jong

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• “Nothing has a stronger influence psychologically on their environment and especially on their children than the unlived life of the parent.” – C.G. Jung

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• “The words that enlighten the soul are more precious than jewels.” – Hazrat Inayat Khan

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• “People are just as happy as they make up their minds to be.” – Abraham Lincoln

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• “It’s a funny thing about life; if you refuse to accept anything but the best, you very often get it.” – Somerset Maugham

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• “Nobody objects to a woman being a good writer or sculptor or geneticist if at the same time she manages to be a good wife, good mother, good-looking, good-tempered, well-groomed, and unaggressive.” –Leslie M. McIntyre

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• "Someone who knows everything is mind is able to use whatever appears as a resource." – Milarepa

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• “The least restrained and most natural movements of the soul are the most beautiful; the least laborious occupations are the best. O God, what a good service wisdom performs when she suits a man's desires to his powers! There is no knowledge more useful. 'According to one's ability,' was Socrates' motto and favorite saying, a saying of great substance. We should direct and fix our desires on those objects that are nearest and easiest. Is it not a foolish humor in me to....pursue a fanatical desire for something I cannot obtain?” – Michel de Montaigne

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• "When I dance, I dance; when I sleep, I sleep; and when I am walking alone in a beautiful orchard, if my thoughts are somewhere elsewhere, for most of the time, I bring them back to the walk, to the orchard, to the sweetness of this solitude and to me." - Michel de Montaigne

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• "I speak truth, not so much as I would like, but as much as I dare; and I dare a little more as I grow older." - Michel de Montaigne

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• "It is likely that if the soul knew anything, it would firstly know itself; and if it knew anything outside itself, it would be its body and shell before other things...We are nearer to ourselves than the whiteness of snow or the heaviness of a stone. If a man does not know himself, how can he know his functions and his powers?" - Michel de Montaigne

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• "It is an absolute perfection and virtually divine to know how to rightfully enjoy our being. We search for other conditions because we do not understand the use of our own, and go outside of ourselves because we do not know what it is like inside." - Michel de Montaigne

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• “We are traditionally rather proud of ourselves for having slipped creative work in there between the domestic chores and obligations. I’m not sure we deserve such big A-pluses for that. – Toni Morrison

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• “The most potent muse of all is our own inner child.” – Stephen Nachmanovitch

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• “With courage you will dare to take risks, have the strength to be compassionate and the wisdom to be humble. Courage is the foundation of integrity.” – Keshavan Nair

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• “I wandered everywhere, through cities and countries wide. And everywhere I went, the world was on my side.” - Roman Payne, Rooftop Soliloquy

• “To live a creative life, we must lose our fear of being wrong.” –Joseph Chilton Pearce

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• “Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up.” – Pablo Picasso

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• "There is no choosing which things we like, which we don't, and which we want to ignore. They are all fuel for the fire that is the experience of now." - Lodro Rinzler

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• "If you are irritated by every rub, how will you be polished?" – Rumi

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• “You need to claim the events of your life to make yourself yours.” – Anne-Wilson Schaef​

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• "Heaven is not merely over our heads but under our feet." – Henry David Thoreau

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• "Go confidently in the direction of your dreams. Live the life you've imagined." – Henry David Thoreau

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• “Man is asked to make himself what he is supposed to become to fulfill his destiny.” – Paul Tillich

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• “Why should we all use our creative power…? Because there is nothing that makes people so generous, joyful, lively, bold, and compassionate, so indifferent to fighting and the accumulation of objects and money.” – Brenda Ueland

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• “Art happens – no hovel is safe from it, no prince can depend on it, the vastest intelligence cannot bring it about.” – James Abbott McNeill Whistler

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• “Every day, you get to choose who you are – whether you will fight through your day or greet the world with a smile.” - Ann Wilson

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• “Often people attempt to live their lives backwards: they try to have more things, or more money, in order to do more of what they want so that they will be happier. The way it actually works is in reverse. You must first be who you really are, then, do what you need to do, in order to have what you want.” – Margaret Young

​Do you have other creativity or creative living quotes that should be included here? Please comment below! ;)