Creative Process Quotes

Browse through our collection of quotes tagged with Creative Process.

Any man who keeps working is not a failure. He may not be a

Any man who keeps working is not a failure. He may not be a great writer, but if he applies the old-fashioned virtues of hard, constant labor, he'll eventually make some kind of career for himself as writer.

Inspirational Writing Creative Process

One must still have chaos in oneself to be able to give birt

One must still have chaos in oneself to be able to give birth to a dancing star.

Friedrich Nietzsche

Creativity Inspirational Birth Chaos Outsider Self Discovery Creative Process Mental Illness

The flimsy little protestations that mark the front gate of

The flimsy little protestations that mark the front gate of every novel, the solemn statements that any resemblance to real persons living or dead is entirely coincidental, are fraudulent every time. A writer has no other material to make his people from than the people of his experience ... The only thing the writer can do is to recombine parts, suppress some characterisitics and emphasize others, put two or three people into one fictional character, and pray the real-life prototypes won't sue.

Wallace Stegner

Truth Fiction Writing Characters Creative Process Realism

Dance above the surface of the world. Let your thoughts lift

Dance above the surface of the world. Let your thoughts lift you into creativity that is not hampered by opinion.

Life Reality Creativity Individuality Life Lessons Writers Creative Writing Creative Process Creative Thinking

We are, not metaphorically but in very truth, a Divine work

We are, not metaphorically but in very truth, a Divine work of art, something that God is making, and therefore something with which He will not be satisfied until it has a certain character. Here again we come up against what I have called the intolerable compliment. Over a sketch made idly to amuse a child, an artist may not take much trouble: he may be content to let it go even though it is not exactly as he meant it to be. But over the great picture of his life the work which he loves, though in a different fashion, as intensely as a man loves a woman or a mother a child he will take endless trouble and would doubtless, thereby give endless trouble to the picture if it were sentient. One can imagine a sentient picture, after being rubbed and scraped and re-commenced for the tenth time, wishing that it were only a thumb-nail sketch whose making was over in a minute. In the same way, it is natural for us to wish that God had designed for us a less glorious and less arduous destiny; but then we are wishing not for more love but for less.

Pain Creative Process Masterpiece

Here is a lesson in creative writing.First rule: Do not use

Here is a lesson in creative writing.First rule: Do not use semicolons. They are transvestite hermaphrodites representing absolutely nothing. All they do is show you've been to college.And I realize some of you may be having trouble deciding whether I am kidding or not. So from now on I will tell you when I'm kidding.For instance, join the National Guard or the Marines and teach democracy. I'm kidding.We are about to be attacked by Al Qaeda. Wave flags if you have them. That always seems to scare them away. I'm kidding.If you want to really hurt your parents, and you don't have the nerve to be gay, the least you can do is go into the arts. I'm not kidding. The arts are not a way to make a living. They are a very human way of making life more bearable. Practicing an art, no matter how well or badly, is a way to make your soul grow, for heaven's sake. Sing in the shower. Dance to the radio. Tell stories. Write a poem to a friend, even a lousy poem. Do it as well as you possibly can. You will get an enormous reward. You will have created something.

Art Humor Funny Writing Creative Process

People talk about books that write themselves, and it's a li

People talk about books that write themselves, and it's a lie. Books don't write themselves. It takes thought and research and backache and notes and more time and more work than you'd believe.

Books Writing Creative Process

There is seven-eights of it under water for every part that

There is seven-eights of it under water for every part that shows. Anything you know you can eliminate and it only strengthens your iceberg. It is the part that doesn't show. If a writer omits something because he does not know it then there is a hole in the story.(Interview with , 1958)

Ernest Hemingway

Writing Creative Process Completeness Omission

If you want to really hurt you parents, and you don't have t

If you want to really hurt you parents, and you don't have the nerve to be gay, the least you can do is go into the arts. I'm not kidding. The arts are not a way to make a living. They are a very human way of making life more bearable. Practicing an art, no matter how well or badly, is a way to make your soul grow, for heaven's sake. Sing in the shower. Dance to the radio. Tell stories. Write a poem to a friend, even a lousy poem. Do it as well as you possible can. You will get an enormous reward. You will have created something.

Art Writing Arts And Humanities Creative Process