Nothing is Original so "Steal Like an Artist"?

Not sure how it happened, but somehow my mom, an artist, retired art professor, quilter, photographer and avid reader found a book that I wish I would  have found first! Thankfully she sent a copy for my birthday and I just finished reading it. The book has a way stating most things you may "know" already with an insightful and witty twist. I  am now following one of the assignments, author Austin Kleon, lists on page 143: Start (or in my case) write a blog.

One of the observations after reading the book: I've already been doing at least one thing Kleon suggests.  Creating this blog was initiated (70 some blogs ago) because I wanted a filing cabinet "in the cloud" to store favorite ideas of others. He advises the job of artists is to collect ideas and "[keep] a swipe file."  Mmmm...Why does it feel so good to be validated of my actions. Turns out, Kleon claims that "validation is for parking...don't look for it from external sources." So I "won't look" anymore but glad I "did get validated" this evening.

From now on, (a late night declaration) a blog will appear at least once a week with a favorite quote (or more) from the book to keep my swipe file up and running.

1) Favorite Quote (my swipe file will be growing fast as the first quote is found on the first page!):

"When people give you advice, they're really just talking to themselves in the past".

2) Ok, one more that states the obvious but good to review:

"All creative work builds on what came before. Nothing is completely original."

3) Ooohh... something for me to keep in mind (since I border on hoarding), then I'm done:

"Hoarders collect indiscriminately, artists collect selectively...The more good ideas you collect, the more you can choose from to be influenced by."

Do you have this book? Share a favorite quote, my guess it will be one of mine, too.