Who Inspired My Creative Thinking?

QUESTION

As a mature, late to the party creative, I am interested in what one sentence or person that has left you with an inspiration that carries you through your life of creativity?

—Jillian

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ANSWER

Hi Jillian, welcome to the party. Wonderful question. I’ll give you two quotes and a person, all of which profoundly affected my thinking.

QUOTE #1

“Have no fear of perfection—you’ll never reach it.” —Salvador Dalí

• Dalí’s thought here has carried me far in my creative endeavors. It’s a constant reminder that, regardless of the outcomes I wish to have, there will always be imperfections and concessions. While that may seem like a forlorn thought at first, it’s actually liberating. It frees us from trying to get everything right.

QUOTE #2

“The unexamined life is not worth living.” —Socrates

• Less targeted at creativity, this one is more universal. I first heard Socrates’ words when I was in high school, and I remember initially thinking he was suggesting that life itself isn’t worth it. But of course that isn’t the case at all. He’s telling us that to self-analyze is to find treasures that fill life with experiences and thoughts worth living.

PERSON (via Quote)

“If you’re afraid—now you have to do it.” —Uncle Ralph

• I was maybe twelve, sitting in the passenger’s seat of my uncle’s station wagon. We were in the parking lot of a McDonald’s. He asked me to go pick up our meals and I told him that going alone scared me. His response is above, and those words have rung true ever since. Fear shows us our boundaries; to go beyond them is to increase the limits of what we’re capable of.

—Joey Cofone

Creator of Baronfig
Author of The Laws of Creativity

Socrates' philosophies were so controversial at the time that he was persecuted for them. Despite having the option to be exiled, Socrates instead chose death by drinking poison hemlock.