You are, in fact, a mashup of what you choose to let into your life. You are the sum of your influences. The German writer Goethe said, “We are shape… - Austin Kleon

You are, in fact, a mashup of what you choose to let into your life.

The German writer Goethe said, “We are shaped and fashioned by what we love.” “We

You are the sum of your influences. The German writer Goethe said, “We are shaped and fashioned by what we love.

You are, in fact, a mashup of what you choose to let into your life. You are the sum of your influences.

Learn to speak. Learn to write. Use spell-check. You’re never “keeping it real” with your lack of proofreading and punctuation, you’re keeping it unintelligible.

And Conan O’Brien tried to be David Letterman but ended up Conan O’Brien. In O’Brien’s words, “It is our failure to become “I have stolen all of these moves from all these great players. I just try to do them proud, the guys who came before, because I learned so much from them. It’s all in the name of the game. It’s a lot bigger than me.” — Kobe Bryant our perceived ideal that ultimately defines us and makes us unique.” Thank goodness.

People need to eat and pay the rent. “An amateur is an artist who supports himself with outside jobs which enable him to paint,” said artist Ben Shahn. “A professional is someone whose wife works to enable him to paint.” Whether an artist makes money off his work or not, money has to come from somewhere, be it a day job, a wealthy spouse, a trust fund, an arts grant, or a patron.