Rick Rubin Quotes

And all art is poetry. Art goes deeper than thought. Deeper than the stories about yourself. It breaks through inner walls and accesses what’s behind. If we get out of the way and let the art do its work, it may yield the sincerity we seek. And sincerity may look nothing like we expected.

The laws of math and science are different from the rules we are looking at here. Those laws describe precise relationships in the physical world, which we know to be true by testing them against the world itself.

The rules artists learn are different. They are assumptions, not absolutes. They describe a goal or method for short-term or long-term results. They
are there to be tested. And they are only of value as long as they are helpful. They are not laws of nature.

The outcome is not the outcome. The darkness is not an end point, nor is the daylight. They live in a continually unfolding, mutually dependent cycle. Neither is bad or good. They simply exist.

If you see tremendous beauty or tremendous pain where other people see little or nothing at all, you’re confronted with big feelings all the time. These emotions can be confusing and overwhelming. When those around you don’t see what you see and feel what you feel, this can lead to a sense of isolation and a general feeling of not belonging, of otherness. These

You work not as an evangelist, expecting miracles, but as a scientist, testing and adjusting and testing again. Experimenting and building on the results. Faith is rewarded, perhaps even more than talent or ability. After all, how can we offer the art what it needs without blind trust? We are required to believe in something that doesn’t exist in order to allow it to come into being.

Established artists generally draw from their personal experience and recommend the solutions that worked for them.

If you have an idea you’re excited about and you don’t bring it to life, it’s not uncommon for the idea to find its voice through another maker.

With unshakable faith, we work under the assumption that the problem is already solved. The answer is out there, perhaps it’s obvious. We just haven’t come across it yet.

Approaching the practical aspects of your day with military precision allows the artistic windows to be opened in childlike freedom.

Awareness is not a state you force. There is little effort involved, though persistence is key. It’s something you actively allow to happen.

Analysis is a secondary function. The awareness happens first as a pure connection with the object of your attention. If something strikes me as interesting or beautiful, first I live that experience. Only afterward might I attempt to understand it.

If you make the choice of reading classic literature every day for a year,
rather than reading the news, by the end of that time period you’ll have a
more honed sensitivity for recognizing greatness from the books than from
the media.

The reason to make art is to innovate and self-express, show something new, share what’s inside, and communicate your singular perspective.

We can’t weigh Source material based on the initial impact it makes on arrival.

This practice — of never assuming an experience you have is the whole story — will support you in a life of open possibility and equanimity. When we obsessively focus on these events, they may appear catastrophic. But they’re just a small aspect of a larger life, and the further you zoom back, the smaller each experience becomes. Zoom in and obsess. Zoom out and observe. We get to choose.