Telling yourself you have all the time in the world, all the money in the world, all the colors in the palette, anything you want — that just kills c… - Austin Kleon

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.

The trouble with creative work: Sometimes by the time people catch on to what’s valuable about what you do, you’re either a) bored to death with it, or b) dead. You can’t go looking for validation from external sources. Once you put your work into the world, you have no control over the way people will react to it.

It's our failure to become the perceived ideal that ultimately defines us and makes us unique