Rick Rubin Quotes

lose. If we can tune in to the idea of making things and sharing them without being attached to the outcome, the work is more likely to arrive in its truest form.

There doesn’t need to be a purpose guiding what we choose to make.

When we miss it, it really does pass us by. Tomorrow presents another opportunity for awareness, but it’s never an opportunity for the same awareness.

The making of art is not a competitive act. Our work is representative of the self. You would be amiss to say, “I’m not up to the challenge.” Yes, you may need to deepen your craft to fully realize your vision. If you’re not up to it, no one else can do it. Only you can. You’re the only one with your voice.

piece as the creator. We will never know a work’s true meaning. It’s helpful to remember that there are forces at work beyond our comprehension. Let’s make art, and let others make the stories.

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.

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

Though we can’t change what it is that we are noticing, we can change our ability to notice.

Some find this phase to be the most difficult part of the process. They resist letting go with a stubborn ferocity. Up until this point, the clay is still soft. Everything can change. Once fixed, we lose control. This fear of permanence is common beyond art. It is known as commitment phobia.

Part of the process of letting go is releasing any thoughts of how you or your piece will be received. When making art, the audience comes last. Let's not consider how a piece will be received or a release strategy until the work is finished and we love it.

To a bird, a song is a very different thing. The bird doesn’t prefer a three-to-five-minute format or accept the chorus as the hook, yet the song for the bird is just as sonorous. And even more intrinsic to the bird’s being. It’s an invitation, a warning, a way to connect, a means of survival.

Invite beliefs that are different from the ones you hold and try to see beyond your own filter. Purposely experiment past the boundaries of your taste. Examine approaches you may dismiss as too highbrow or lowbrow. What can we learn from these extremes? What are the unexpected surprises?

As artists, we want to hold these stories softly and find space for the vast amount of information that doesn’t fit easily within the limits of our belief system. The more raw data we can take in, and the less we shape it, the closer we get to nature.

Sometimes the most valuable touch a collaborator can have is no touch at all.

Expressing oneself in the world and creativity are the same. It may not be possible to know who you are without somehow expressing it.