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I am always doing what I can't do yet in order to learn how to do it.

— Vincent van Gogh

in a August 1885 response to a friend who criticized his work The Potato Eaters.

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That’s the best revenge of all: happiness. Nothing drives people crazier than seeing someone have a good fucking life.

— Chuck Palahniuk

during a talk at the Grub Street Writer's Conference. (via Swissmiss)

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I don't even have an email address. I have reached an age where my main purpose is not to receive messages.

— Umberto Eco

quoted in the New Yorker in 1995. (via this post on email)

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Make every detail perfect and limit the number of details to perfect.

— Jack Dorsey

on “The Power of Curiosity and Inspiration” at Stanford University, February 9, 2011.

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I want the power to create what is in my mind. That's my dream. I want to be able to have a thought or an idea and bring it into reality.

— Kanye West

( From an interview by Steve Mcqueen in Interview )

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They always say that time changes things, but you actually have to change them yourself.

— Andy Warhol

( From his book The Philosophy of Andy Warhol (From A to B and Back Again) )

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The day before something is a breakthrough, it’s a crazy idea.

— Peter Diamandis

( From Peter's Law via Tony Hsieh)

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Do the best you can until you know better. Then when you know better, do better.

— Maya Angelou

(Here's Oprah Winfrey talking about how this quote has changed her life. via Lauren O'Neill)

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The lights went out, and I remember Steven Spielberg took a flashlight and held it above his head and shined it down on himself and said, ‘Love story,’ and then put it under his chin and said, ‘Horror story.’ ‘Love story. Horror story.’

— Jeff Goldblum

(on being stuck inside due to a hurricane during the filming of Jurassic Park. From Welcome to ‘Jurassic Park’: An oral history)

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What man has done, the little triumphs of his present state, and all this history we have told, form but the prelude to the things that man has got to do.

— H. G. Wells

(in A Short History of the World)

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What I believe is that all clear-minded people should remain two things throughout their lifetimes: curious and teachable.

— Roger Ebert

(via Daring Fireball)

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On a good day, I’m 90% satisfied, which is fine; I don’t think one should ever be 100% satisfied because then there is nothing left to aspire to.

— Louise Fili

on what keeps her moving and thinking. (via The Great Discontent)

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Start by doing what’s necessary; then do what’s possible; and suddenly you are doing the impossible.

— St. Francis of Assisi

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Fall down. Make a mess. Break something occasionally. Know that your mistakes are your own unique way of getting to where you need to be.

— Conan Obrien

at his commencement speech for Harvard University.

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Fill your life with things that you love.

— Jason Santa Maria

(via Creative Mornings)

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An old trick well done is far better than a new trick with no effect.

— Harry Houdini

on how to address an audience. (via The Right Way to Do Wrong)

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Optimism, pessimism, fuck that; we’re going to make it happen.

— Elon Musk

when asked how he maintains his optimism after so much failure. (Wired, 2008)