madamevangamble:

The following was found on on the blog Brainpickings.

From The War of Art: Break Through the Blocks and Win Your Inner Creative Battles by Steven Pressfield:

Are you paralyzed with fear? That’s a good sign. Fear is good. Like self-doubt, fear is an indicator. Fear tells us what we have to do. Remember our rule of thumb: The more scared we are of a work or calling, the more sure we can be that we have to do it.

Resistance is experienced as fear; the degree of fear equates the strength of Resistance. Therefore, the more fear we feel about a specific enterprise, the more certain we can be that that enterprise is important to us and to the growth of our soul.

From The Cult of Done Manifesto by Bre Pettis and Kio Stark:

Pretending you know what you’re doing is almost the same as knowing what you are doing, so just accept that you know what you’re doing even if you don’t and do it.

From the Holstee manifesto:

This is your life. Do what you love, and do it often. If you don’t like something, change it. If you don’t like your job, quit. If you don’t have enough time, stop watching TV. If you are looking for the love of your life, stop; they will be waiting for you when you start doing things you love.

From Work Is Not A Job by Catharina Bruns:

Empower yourself and realise the importance of contributing to the world by living your talent. Work on what you love. You are responsible for the talent that has been entrusted to you.

And finally, regarding writing, from How to Write a Sentence: And How to Read One by Stanley Fish:

[Pared-down prose] is a real loss, not because we necessarily need more Jamesian novels but because too often the instruction to ‘omit needless words’ (Rule 17) leads young writers to be cautious and dull; minimalist style becomes minimalist thought, and that is a problem.

Oh, and here’s a little visual stimulation, inspired by Alain de Botton’s chapter in How Proust Can Change Your Life:

Futurista and Kaepora Gaebora—things of beauty.

These excerpts are beautiful.