Austin Kleon Quotes

The only way to find your voice is to use it. It’s hardwired, built into you. Talk about the things you love. Your voice will follow.

It's in the act of making things that we figure out who we are.

Today isn't just another day. Today I'll create something beautiful.

In order to be found, you have to be findable.

You’re only going to be as good as the stuff you surround yourself with.

You're ready. Start making stuff.

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.

Not everybody will get it. People will misinterpret you and what you do. They might even call you names. So get comfortable with being misunderstood, disparaged, or ignored -- the trick is to be too busy doing your work to care.

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.

Don't wait until you know who you are to get started.

Every new idea is just a mashup or a remix of one or more previous ideas.

Creative people need time to just sit around and do nothing.

Pretend to be making something until you actually make something.

What a good artist understands is that nothing comes from nowhere. All creative work builds on what came before. Nothing is completely original.

The minute you learn something, turn around and teach it to others.

If we're free from the burden of trying to be completely original, we can stop trying to make something out of nothing, and we can embrace influence instead of running from it.

The more good ideas you collect, the more you can choose from to be influenced by.

Read deeply. Stay open. Continue to wonder.

Show your work, and when the right people show up, pay close attention to them, because they'll have a lot to show you.

You can’t be content with mastery; you have to push yourself to become a student again.

Your brain gets too comfortable in your everyday surroundings. You need to make it uncomfortable. You need to spend some time in another land, among people that do things differently than you. Travel makes the world look new, and when the world looks new, our brains work harder.

The only way to find your voice is to use it

Usually, when we talk about creativity, it's about self-expression, which is great, but for work to be art or design, there has to be someone on the other end. The audience makes the work come alive.

Become a documentarian of what you do.

Nothing is more paralyzing than the idea of limitless possibilities.