There is no agony like bearing an untold story inside you.
32 quotations, from Pablo Picasso, Zora Neale Hurston and others, each checked for who actually said it.
On making things, from painters, writers and scientists, including a few honest lines about how much of it is habit and showing up.
There is no agony like bearing an untold story inside you.
Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world.
A work is never finished, only abandoned.
Absorb what is useful, discard what is useless and add what is specifically your own.
It's kind of fun to do the impossible.
The creation of something new is not accomplished by the intellect but by the play instinct.
Creativity takes courage.
Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once we grow up.
Every artist was first an amateur.
You can't use up creativity. The more you use, the more you have.
The chief enemy of creativity is good sense.
An essential aspect of creativity is not being afraid to fail.
Art is not what you see, but what you make others see.
The painter has the Universe in his mind and hands.
Art enables us to find ourselves and lose ourselves at the same time.
Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes. Art is knowing which ones to keep.
The worst enemy to creativity is self-doubt.
To create one's own world in any of the arts takes courage.
Have no fear of perfection, you'll never reach it.
Art washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life.
The desire to create is one of the deepest yearnings of the human soul.
Inspiration exists, but it has to find you working.
The artist is nothing without the gift, but the gift is nothing without work.
Creativity is a wild mind and a disciplined eye.
The principle of true art is not to portray, but to evoke.
There is no must in art because art is free.
Creativity is just connecting things.
You must stay drunk on writing so reality cannot destroy you.
Imagination is the beginning of creation. You imagine what you desire, you will what you imagine, and at last you create what you will.
Art is the lie that enables us to realize the truth.
Curiosity about life in all of its aspects, I think, is still the secret of great creative people.
Creativity is a habit, and the best creativity is the result of good work habits.
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Get the appVerses and attributions checked against the poets' published collections; lines that circulate online under famous names but are not theirs have been left out. Translations prepared and checked by MyByteNest. Updated 1 October 2026. Spot an error? Tell us.