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Be curious about the world in which you live. Look things up. Chase down every reference. Go deeper than anybody else--that's how you'll get ahead.Austin Kleon
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Write the book you want to readAustin Kleon
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Draw the art you want to see, start the business you want to run, play the music you want to hear, write the books you want to read, build the products you want to use — do the work you want to see done.Austin Kleon
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Read deeply. Stay open. Continue to wonder.Austin Kleon
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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.Austin Kleon
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Pablo Picasso was notorious for sucking the energy out of the people he met. His granddaughter Marina claimed that he squeezed people like one of his tubes of oil paints. You's have a great time hanging out all day with Picasso, and then you's go home nervous and exhausted, and Picasso would go back to his studio and paint all night, using the energy he'd sucked out of you.Austin Kleon
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Art that only comes from the head isn't any good.Austin Kleon
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If you ever find that you're the most talented person in the room, you need to find another room.Austin Kleon
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Life is a lonely businessAustin Kleon
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Life is a lonely bussinessAustin Kleon
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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
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My motto for creatAustin Kleon
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Find the most talented person in the room, and if it’s not you, go stand next to him. Hang out with him. Try to be helpful. If you ever find that you’re the most talented person in the room, you need to find another room.Austin Kleon
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The way to get over creative block is to simply place some constraints on yourself. It seems contradictory, but when it comes to creative work, limitations mean freedom.Austin Kleon
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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
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Forget about being an expert or a professional, and wear your amateurism (your heart, your love) on your sleeve. Share what you love, and the people who love the same things will find you.Austin Kleon
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Everybody says they want artists to make money and then when they do, everybody hates them for it. The word sellout is spit out by the bitterest, smallest parts of ourselves. Don't be one of those horrible fans who stops listening to your favorite band just because they have a hit single. Don't write off your friends because they've had a little bit of success. Don't be jealous when the people you like do well - celebrate their victory as if it's your own.Austin Kleon
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Don't think of your website as a self-promotion machine, think of it as a self-invention machine.Austin Kleon
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Strike all the adjectives from your bio. If you take photos, you're not an 'aspiring' photographer, you're not an 'amazing' photographer either. You're a photographer. Don't get cute. Don't brag. Just state the facts.Austin Kleon
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The best way to get started on the path to sharing your work is to think about what you want to learn, and make a commitment to learning in front of others.Austin Kleon
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The great thing about remote or dead masters is that they can't refuse you as an apprentice. You can learn whatever you want from them. They left their lesson plans in their work.Austin Kleon
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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.Austin Kleon
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It’s one of my theories that when people give you advice, they’re really just talking to themselves in the past.Austin Kleon
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Don’t talk to people you don’t want to talk to, and don’t talk about stuff you don’t want to talk about.Austin Kleon
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If you have one person you’re influenced by, everyone will say you’re the next whoever. But if you rip off a hundred people, everyone will say you're so original.Austin Kleon
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Comments outnumber ideas.Austin Kleon
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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
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The best way to vanquish your enemies on the Internet? Ignore them.ÂAustin Kleon
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Every artist gets asked the question, “Where do you get your ideas?” The honest artist answers, “I steal them.Austin Kleon
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Don't just steal the style, steal the thinking behind the style. You don't want to look like your heroes, you want to see like your heroes.Austin Kleon
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When you find something 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
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Nobody is born with a style or a voice. We don't come 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