76+ Austin Kleon Quotes On Success, Friendship And Creative
Austin Kleon is an American author, artist, and speaker. He is best known for his books Steal Like an Artist and Show Your Work, which focus on creativity and the importance of sharing ideas. His latest book, Keep Going, focuses on how to stay creative and motivated in the face of adversity. Following is our collection on famous quotes by Austin Kleon on life, success, friendship.
Quick Jump To
- Top 10 Austin Kleon Quotes
- Austin Kleon Quotes About Life
- Austin Kleon Quotes About Creative
- Short Austin Kleon Quotes
- Life Lessons
- Famous Austin Kleon Quotes
Top 10 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.
- 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.
- You can’t be content with mastery; you have to push yourself to become a student again.
- You’re only going to be as good as the stuff you surround yourself with.
- Every new idea is just a mashup or a remix of one or more previous ideas.
- 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 shaped and fashioned by what we love."
- Today isn't just another day. Today I'll create something beautiful.
- Enjoy your obscurity while it lasts.
- The biggest task in the morning is to try to keep my headspace from being invaded by the outside world.
- If you’re worried about giving your secrets away, you can share your dots without connecting them.
Austin Kleon Short Quotes
- You can't find your voice if you don't use it.
- The more good ideas you collect, the more you can choose from to be influenced by.
- If you ever find you're the most talented person in the room, you need to find another room.
- So go on, get angry. But keep your mouth shut and go do your work.
- Be nice. (The world is a small town.)
- The best advice is not to write what you know, it's to write what you like.
- Be boring. (It’s the only way to get work done.)
- It sounds a little extreme, but in this day and age, if your work isn't online, it doesn't exist.
- You're ready. Start making stuff.
- Marriage is two people in love standing in the same bathroom
Austin Kleon Quotes About Life
Keep all your passions in your life. — Austin Kleon
The best advice is not to write what you know, it's to write what you like. Write the kind of story you like best - write the story you want to read. The same principle applies to your life and your career. — Austin Kleon
You are, in fact, a mashup of what you choose to let into your life. — Austin Kleon
Austin Kleon Quotes About Creative
What a good artist understands is that nothing comes from nowhere. All creative work builds on what came before. Nothing is completely original. — Austin Kleon
Inertia is the death of creativity — Austin Kleon
In the end, creativity isn’t just the things we choose to put in, it’s the things we choose to leave out. — Austin Kleon
Creative people need time to just sit around and do nothing. — Austin Kleon
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
Pretend to be making something until you actually make something. — Austin Kleon
The thing is: It takes a lot of energy to be creative. You don't have that energy if you waste it on other stuff. — Austin Kleon
Austin Kleon Famous Quotes And Sayings
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. — Austin Kleon
There's a balance between what you want to give the world and what it needs. If you're lucky, your work is in the middle. — Austin Kleon
There’s an economic theory out there that if you take the incomes of your five closest friends and average them, the resulting number will be pretty close to your own income. I think the same thing is true of idea incomes. You’re only going to be as good as the stuff you surround yourself with. — Austin Kleon
Dig into almost every overnight success story and you’ll find about a decade’s worth of hard work and perseverance. — Austin Kleon
Find the most talented person in the room, and if it's not you, go stand next to him. Hang out with him. Try to be helpful. If you ever find that you're the most talented person in the room, you need to find another room. — Austin Kleon
In order to be found, you have to be findable. — Austin Kleon
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. — Austin Kleon
When people give advice, they're really just talking to themselves in the past. — Austin Kleon
Collect books, even if you don't plan on reading them right away. Filmmaker John Waters has said, "Nothing is more important than an unread library." — Austin Kleon
Do good work and share it with people. — Austin Kleon
Don't wait until you know who you are to get started. — Austin Kleon
That’s the thing you have to understand about the whole process of art (or the work that we do) – you’re only half of the equation. It’s an interaction between you and the person who’s going to experience the work. The person who’s going to experience the work is bringing just as much to it and is just as important as you are. — Austin Kleon
The only way to find your voice is to use it — Austin Kleon
Every artist gets asked the question, 'Where do you get your ideas?' The honest artist answers, 'I steal them.' — Austin Kleon
The artist is a collector. Not a hoarder, mind you, there's a difference: Hoarders collect indiscriminately, artists collect selectively. They only collect things that they really love. — Austin Kleon
Become a documentarian of what you do. — Austin Kleon
It's in the act of making things that we figure out who we are. — Austin Kleon
Google everything. I mean everything. Google your dreams, Google your problems. Don’t ask a question before you Google it. You’ll either find the answer or you’ll come up with a better question. — Austin Kleon
If you want fans, you have to be a fan first. — Austin Kleon
We found the future, like birds fly into windows. — Austin Kleon
Establishing and keeping a routine can be even more important than having a lot of time. — Austin Kleon
Don't think of your website as a self-promotion machine, think of it as a self-invention machine. — Austin Kleon
Eat breakfast. Do some push-ups. Go for long walks. Get plenty of sleep. — Austin Kleon
The people who get what they’re after are very often the ones who just stick around long enough. — Austin Kleon
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. — Austin Kleon
The minute you learn something, turn around and teach it to others. — Austin Kleon
Unless you are actually a ninja, a guru, or a rock star, don't ever use any of those terms in your bio. Ever. — Austin Kleon
Travel makes the world look new, and when the world looks new, our brains work harder. — Austin Kleon
Don't worry about doing research. Just search. — Austin Kleon
There's an intuition learned through our work. Teaching others doesn't mean they can just go out and replicate it. — Austin Kleon
The best way to get started on the path of sharing your work is to think about what you want to learn, and make a commitment to learning it in front of others. — Austin Kleon
The computer brings out the uptight perfectionist in us - we start editing ideas before we have them. — Austin Kleon
Art that only comes from the head isn't any good. Watch any good musician and you'll see what I mean. — Austin Kleon
You'll either find the answer or you'll come up with a better question. — Austin Kleon
School is one thing. Education is another. The two don’t always overlap. Whether you’re in school or not, it’s always your job to get yourself an education. — Austin Kleon
Copying is about reverse-engineering. — Austin Kleon
Nothing is more paralyzing than the idea of limitless possibilities. — Austin Kleon
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. — Austin Kleon
Read deeply. Stay open. Continue to wonder. — Austin Kleon
Amateurs know that contributing something is better than contributing nothing. — Austin Kleon
Write the book you want to read — Austin Kleon
Obituaries are like near-death experiences for cowards. — Austin Kleon
We're always being told 'find your voice.' When I was younger, I never really knew what this meant. I used to worry a lot about voice, wondering if I had my own. But now I realize that 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. — Austin Kleon
Genealogy of ideas. You don’t get to pick your family, but you can pick your teachers and you can pick your friends and you can pick the music you listen to and you can pick the books you read and you can pick the movies you see. — Austin Kleon
Show your work, and when the right people show up, pay close attention to them, because they'll have a lot to show you. — Austin Kleon
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. — Austin Kleon
Life Lessons by Austin Kleon
- Austin Kleon emphasizes the importance of staying creative and open to new ideas, even when it's difficult. He encourages readers to find their own unique voice and to be unafraid to share it with the world.
- Austin Kleon encourages readers to be curious and to embrace the power of collaboration. He believes that creativity is a process that involves both individual effort and collaboration with others.
- Austin Kleon encourages readers to focus on the present and to make the most of the opportunities available to them. He encourages readers to take risks, to be bold, and to never give up on their dreams.
Citation
Feel free to cite and use any of the quotes by Austin Kleon. For popular citation styles (APA, Chicago, MLA), go to citation page.
Embed HTML Link
Copy and paste this HTML code in your webpage