Austin Kleon Quotes

“Don't wait until you know who you are to get started.”
― Austin Kleon, Steal Like an Artist: 10 Things Nobody Told You About Being Creative

“We all love things that other people think are garbage. You have to have the courage to keep loving your garbage, because what makes us unique is the diversity and breadth of our influences, the unique ways in which we mix up the parts of culture others have deemed “high” and the “low.”

When you find things you genuinely enjoy, don’t let anyone else make you feel bad about it. Don’t feel guilty about the pleasure you take in the things you enjoy. Celebrate them.”
― Austin Kleon, Show Your Work!: 10 Ways to Share Your Creativity and Get Discovered

“You're ready. Start making stuff.”
― Austin Kleon, Steal Like an Artist: 10 Things Nobody Told You About Being Creative

“The trouble with imaginative people is that we're good at picturing the worst that could happen to us. Fear is often just the imagination taking a wrong turn.”
― Austin Kleon, Show Your Work!: 10 Ways to Share Your Creativity and Get Discovered

“If I'd waited to know who I was or what I was about before I started "being creative," well, I'd still be sitting around trying to figure myself out instead of making things. In my experience, it's in the act of making things and doing our work that we figure out who we are.”
― Austin Kleon, Steal Like an Artist: 10 Things Nobody Told You About Being Creative

“You have to dress for the job you want, not the job you have, and you have to start doing the work you want to be doing.”
― Austin Kleon, Steal Like an Artist: 10 Things Nobody Told You About Being Creative

“Everybody loves a good story, but good storytelling doesn't come easy to everybody. It's a skill that takes a lifetime to master. So study the great stories and then go find some of your own. Your stories will get better the more you tell them.”
― Austin Kleon, Show Your Work!: 10 Ways to Share Your Creativity and Get Discovered

“Nobody is born with a style or a voice. We don't come out of the womb knowing who we are. In the beginning, we learn by pretending to be our heroes. We learn by copying.”
― Austin Kleon, Steal Like an Artist: 10 Things Nobody Told You About Being Creative

“Don't just steal the style, steal the thinking behind the style. You don't want to look like your heroes, you want to see like your heroes.”
― Austin Kleon, Steal Like an Artist: 10 Things Nobody Told You About Being Creative

“The people who get what they're after are very often the ones who just stick around long enough.”
― Austin Kleon, Show Your Work!: 10 Ways to Share Your Creativity and Get Discovered

“Be ambitious. Keep yourself busy. Think bigger. Expand your audience. Don't hobble yourself in the name of "keeping it real," or "not selling out." Try new things. If an opportunity comes along that will allow you to do more of the kind of work you want to do, say Yes. If an opportunity comes long that would mean more money, but less of the kind of work you want to do, say No.”
― Austin Kleon, Show Your Work!: 10 Ways to Share Your Creativity and Get Discovered

“Don't talk to people you don't want to talk to, and don't talk about stuff you don't want to talk about.”
― Austin Kleon, Show Your Work!: 10 Ways to Share Your Creativity and Get Discovered

“Make stuff you love and talk about stuff you love and you'll attract people who love that kind of stuff. It's that simple.”
― Austin Kleon, Show Your Work!: 10 Ways to Share Your Creativity and Get Discovered

“Human beings want to know where things came from, how they were made, and who made them. The stories you tell about the work you do have a huge effect on how people feel and what they understand about your work, and how people feel an what they understand about your work effects how they value it.”
― Austin Kleon, Show Your Work!: 10 Ways to Share Your Creativity and Get Discovered

“If you have two or three real passions, don't feel like you have to pick and choose between them. Don't discard. Keep all your passions in your life.”
― Austin Kleon, Steal Like an Artist: 10 Things Nobody Told You About Being Creative

“If you look to artists who've managed to achieve lifelong careers, you detect the same pattern: They all have been able to persevere, regardless of success or failure.”
― Austin Kleon, Show Your Work!: 10 Ways to Share Your Creativity and Get Discovered

“Writing a page a day doesn't seem like much, but do it for 365 days and you have enough to fill a novel.”
― Austin Kleon, Steal Like an Artist: 10 Things Nobody Told You About Being Creative

“In the meantime, if you're not into the world you live in, you can build your own world around you.[...]Surround yourself with books and objects that you love. Tape things up on the wall. Create your own world.”
― Austin Kleon, Steal Like an Artist: 10 Things Nobody Told You About Being Creative

“Think about your favourite work and your creative heroes. What did they miss? What didn't they make? What could've been made better? If they were still alive, what would they be making today? If all your favourite makers got together and collaborated, what would they make with you leading the crew?”
― Austin Kleon, Steal Like an Artist: 10 Things Nobody Told You About Being Creative

“In the first act, you get your hero up a tree. The second act, you throw rocks at him. For the third act, you let him down."- George Abbott”
― Austin Kleon, Show Your Work!: 10 Ways to Share Your Creativity and Get Discovered

“The computer brings out the uptight perfectionist in us- we start editing ideas before we have them.”
― Austin Kleon, Steal Like an Artist: 10 Things Nobody Told You About Being Creative

“Pablo Picasso was notorious for sucking the energy out of the people he met. His granddaughter Marina claimed that he squeezed people like one of his tubes of oil paints. You's have a great time hanging out all day with Picasso, and then you's go home nervous and exhausted, and Picasso would go back to his studio and paint all night, using the energy he'd sucked out of you.”
― Austin Kleon, Show Your Work!: 10 Ways to Share Your Creativity and Get Discovered

“Don't feel guilty about the pleasures you take in the things you enjoy.”
― Austin Kleon

“Do good work and share it with people.”
― Austin Kleon

“School is one thing, education is another. The two dont always overlap. Whether you are in school or not, ts always your job to get yourself an education.”
― Austin Kleon, Steal Like an Artist

“When you get rid of old material, you push yourself further and come up with something better.”
― Austin Kleon, Show Your Work!: 10 Ways to Share Your Creativity and Get Discovered