Motivational quotes to the rescue! Are you looking for a super quotable burst of inspiration? Are you ready for a little push in the right direction?
Or maybe you’re working on your latest creative projectβa poem, a book, a sculpture, a paintingβonly to realize it’s not turning out the way you wanted.
Have no fear, I’ve got a quote for any and all of that! π©π»βπ¨
The Beauty of a Much-Needed Inspirational Quote
Quotes are a great way to give yourself small reminders and occasional bursts of encouragement, especially if you’re feeling hopeless or discouraged, faced with anxiety, grappling with fear of failure (or fear of success), or dealing with the dreaded writerΚ»s block or artistΚ»s block.
A piece of advice: If that’s happening to you, put the project aside and take a step back. You might be tempted to throw in the towel, but donΚ»t. Stay the course. If you decide to let a project go, let it be because you have thoughtfully accepted that itΚ»s not the right time or place for the project, and not because youΚ»re discouraged and frustrated.
Creative blocks happen, and everyone who has successfully sold a painting or published a book will tell you that creative ruts are part of the process. It’s just a matter of getting those creative juices flowing again.
Reclaim Inspiration
Rather than wait for inspiration, nudge it back into your corner with a little bit of hard work and a lot of persistence.
We all know that surrounding ourselves with people who lift us up and inspire us can help us reach our creative goals faster. The works and words of great artists and writers can help us overcome these same hurdles. A well-chosen word or phrase can motivate us, ignite passion, and rekindle our creative souls.
In that spirit, I’ve rounded up a collection of over 200 inspirational quotes from famous artists, creators, businesspeople, and world leaders to help keep you motivated. Write these quotes down and put them in your journal, on your bathroom mirror, on the door to the fridge, in your car. Send them to a friend. These bite-sized creative boosts are here for you whenever you feel the chips are down.
200+ Inspirational Quotes for Art and Writing



- βPainting is an illusion, a piece of magic, so what you see is not what you see.β βPhilip Guston
- βThey always say time changes things, but you actually have to change them yourself.β βAndy Warhol
- βTo create oneβs own world takes courage.β βGeorgia OβKeeffe
- “Creativity exists in the present moment. You can’t find it anywhere else.” βNatalie Goldberg
- βPoor is the pupil who does not surpass his master.β βLeonardo da Vinci
- βThe chief enemy of creativity is βgoodβ sense.β βPablo Picasso
- βLearn the rules like a pro, so you can break them like an artist.β βPablo Picasso
- βStay firmly in your path and dare. Be wild two hours a day!” βPaul Gauguin
- βInspiration is for amateurs. The rest of us just show up and get the work done. If you wait around for the clouds to part and a bolt of lightning to strike you in the brain, youβre not going to make an awful lot of work. ” βChuck Close
- βA true artist is not one who is inspired, but one who inspires others.β βSalvador Dali
- βSuccess is a worn down pencil.β βRauschenberg
- βBe willing to be a beginner every single morning.β βMeister Johann Eckhart
- βWhen one door of happiness closes, another opens, but often we look so long at the closed door that we do not see the one that has been opened for us.” βThomas Stearns Eliot
- βOnly those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go.β βThomas Stearns Eliot
- βThe most difficult thing is the decision to act, the rest is merely tenacity.β βAmelia Earhart
- βIt is our choices that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities.β βJ. K. Rowling
- “I never dreamed about success, I worked for it.β βEstΓ©e Lauder
- βIf you could say it in words, there would be no reason to paint.β βEdward Hopper
- “Where the spirit does not work with the hand, there is no art.” βLeonardo da Vinci
- βThe ability to simplify means to eliminate the unnecessary so that the necessary may speak.β βHans Hofmann
- βLife beats down and crushes the soul and art reminds you that you have one.β βStella Adler
- βHappiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony.” βMahatma Gandhi
- βThere is only one way to avoid criticism: do nothing, say nothing, and be nothing.β βAristotle
- βNo chaos, damn it.β βJackson Pollock
- “Hope begins in the dark.” βAnne Lamott
- βSuccess is a lousy teacher. It seduces smart people into thinking they canβt lose.β βBill Gates
- βThe way to get started is to quit talking and begin doing.β βWalt Disney
- βShort cuts make long delays.β βJ.R.R. Tolkien
- βYou’ll never really be great unless you aim high.β βStella Adler
- βArt is a lie that makes us realize the truth.β βPablo Picasso
- βA wise man will make more opportunities than he finds.β βFrancis Bacon
- βBy failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail.β βBenjamin Franklin
- βI attribute my success to this: I never gave or took any excuse.β βFlorence Nightingale
- βMan prefers to believe what he prefers to be true.β βFrancis Bacon
- βIf we go for the easy way, we never change.β βMarina Abramovic
- βYou get whatever accomplishment you are willing to declare.β βGeorgia OβKeeffe
- βImagination is more important than knowledge.β βAlbert Einstein
- “You’re a creative person. So come up with a creative solution.” βDarien Gee
- βIf people knew how hard I worked to get my mastery, it wouldnβt seem so wonderful at all.β βMichelangelo
- βThe worst enemy to creativity is self-doubt.β βSylvia Plath
- βThere is no βright’ way to make art. The only wrong is in not trying, not doing. Donβt put barriers up that arenβt there β just get to work and make something.β βLisa Golightly
- βYou canβt use up creativity. The more you use, the more you have.β βMaya Angelou
- βRoutine kills creative thought.β βScarlett Thomas
- “Life beats down and crushes the soul and art reminds you that you have one. β βStella Adler
- βWhat keeps my heart awake is colorful silence.” βClaude Monet
- βArt is the only way to run away without leaving home.β βTwyla Tharp
- βCreativity is intelligence having fun.” βAlbert Einstein
- βThe world of reality has its limits; the world of imagination is boundless.β βJean-Jacques Rousseau
- βLogic will get you from A to B. Imagination will take you everywhere.β βAlbert Einstein
- βHave no fear of perfection, you’ll never reach it.β βSalvador Dali
- βThe longer you look at an object, the more abstract it becomes, and, ironically, the more real.β βLucian Freud
- βAn artist never really finishes his work; he merely abandons it.β βPaul ValΓ©ry
- βOne can have no smaller or greater mastery than mastery of oneself.β βLeonardo da Vinci
- βThe artist’s world is limitless. It can be found anywhere, far from where he lives or a few feet away. It is always on his doorstep.β βPaul Strand
- βIt’s not what you look at that matters, it’s what you see.β βHenry David Thoreau
- βIt took me four years to paint like Raphael, but a lifetime to paint like a child.β βPablo Picasso
- βI wish they would only take me as I am.β βVincent Van Gogh
- βTo practice any art, no matter how well or badly, is a way to make your soul grow. So do it.β βKurt Vonnegut
- βDo not fear mistakes β there are none.β βMiles David
- βI invent nothing, I rediscover.β βAuguste Rodin
- βEvery canvas is a journey all its own.β βHelen Frankenthaler
- βIf you ask me what I came to do in this world, I, an artist, will answer you: I am here to live out loud.β βΓmile Zola
- βThe object of art is not to reproduce reality, but to create a reality of the same intensity.β βAlberto Giacometti
- βArt enables us to find ourselves and lose ourselves at the same time.β βThomas Merton
- βWe donβt make mistakes, just happy little accidents.β βBob Ross
- βThose who do not want to imitate anything, produce nothing.β βSalvador Dali
- βThe greater the artist, the greater the doubt. Perfect confidence is granted to the less talented as a consolation prize.β βRobert Hughes
- βBe who you are and say what you feel because those who mind donβt matter and those who matter donβt mind.β βDr. Seuss
- βEverything has its beauty, but not everyone sees it.β βAndy Warhol
- βArt is a line around your thoughts.β βGustav Klimt
- βWhile drawing, I discover what I really want to say. β βDario Fo
- “I think that little by little I’ll be able to solve my problems and survive.” βFrida Kahlo
- βAt the end of the day, we can endure much more than we think we can.β βFrida Kahlo
- βI paint self-portraits because I am so often alone, because I am the person I know best.β βFrida Kahlo
- “Don’t put yourself down. Be kind. Trust your words. Trust your desire to write.” βDarien Gee
- βNo amount of skillful invention can replace the essential element of imagination.β βEdward Hopper
- βMore of me comes out when I improvise.β βEdward Hopper
- βI have tried to present my sensations in what is the most congenial and impressive form possible to me.β βEdward Hopper
- βIf I create from the heart, nearly everything works; if from the head, almost nothing.β βMarc Chagall
- βLove and fantasy, go hand in hand.β βMarc Chagall
- βWhat a genius, that Picasso. It is a pity he doesn’t paint.β βMarc Chagall
- βTo look at something as though we had never seen it before requires great courage.β βHenri Matisse
- βDonβt wait for inspiration. It comes while one is working.β βHenri Matisse
- βExactitude is not truth.β βHenri Matisse
- βImpressionism is the newspaper of the soulβ βHenri Matisse
- βWhen you’re out of willpower, you can call on stubbornness.β βHenri Matisse
- “One just has to shut up, sit down, and write.β βNatalie Goldberg
- “Mistakes are almost always of a sacred nature. Never try to correct them. On the contrary: rationalize them, understand them thoroughly.” βSalvador Dali
- “I am not strange. I am just not normal.” βSalvador Dali
- “Intelligence without ambition is a bird without wings.” βSalvador Dali
- “Life is too short to remain unnoticed.” βSalvador Dali
- “The problem with the youth of today is that one is no longer part of it.” βSalvador Dali
- “You have to create confusion systematically, it sets creativity free. Everything that is contradictory creates life.” βSalvador Dali
- “No masterpiece was ever created by a lazy artist.” βSalvador Dali
- “The true painter must be able, with the most usual things, to have the most unusual ideas.” βSalvador Dali
- βYou need to let the little things that would ordinarily bore you suddenly thrill you.β βAndy Warhol
- βPatience is also a form of action.β βAuguste Rodin
- βEverything I do is intended to be big.β βHenry Moore
- βYour time is limited, so donβt waste it living someone elseβs life.β βSteve Jobs
- βDonβt let the noise of othersβ opinions drown out your own inner voice.β βSteve Jobs
- βSometimes when you innovate, you make mistakes. It is best to admit them quickly, and get on with improving your other innovations.β βSteve Jobs
- βYou have to be burning with an idea, or a problem, or a wrong that you want to right. If youβre not passionate enough from the start, youβll never stick it out.β βSteve Jobs
- βFairy tales are more than true: not because they tell us that dragons exist, but because they tell us that dragons can be beaten.β βNeil Gaiman
- βBecause,’ she said, ‘when you’re scared but you still do it anyway, that’s brave.β βNeil Gaiman
- “Don’t let anyone tell you what you can or cannot write, who you can or cannot be.” βDarien Gee
- βNature is not only all that is visible to the eye… it also includes the inner pictures of the soul.β βEdvard Munch
- βTruth is like fire; to tell the truth means to glow and burn.β βGustav Klimt
- βI would rather die of passion than of boredom.β βΓmile Zola
- βThe artist is nothing without the gift, but the gift is nothing without work.β βΓmile Zola
- βThe artist must train not only his eye but also his soul.β βWassily Kandinsky
- βCreativity is magic. Donβt examine it too closely.β βEdward Albee
- βThe chief enemy of creativity is βgoodβ sense.β βPablo Picasso
- βEvery artist dips his brush in his own soul, and paints his own nature into his pictures.β βHenry Ward Beecher
- βThe object isnβt to make art, itβs to be in that wonderful state which makes art inevitable.β βRobert Henri
- βGreat things are done by a series of small things brought together.β βVincent Van Gogh
- βLife beats down and crushes the soul and art reminds you that you have one.β βStella Adler
- βNo great artist ever sees things as they really are. If he did, he would cease to be an artist.β βOscar Wilde
- βA good artist has less time than ideas.β βMartin Kippenberger
- βIf I create from the heart, nearly everything works; if from the head, almost nothing.β βMarc Chagall
- βArt must be an expression of love or it is nothing.β βMarc Chagall
- βIn art, the hand can never execute anything higher than the heart can imagine.β βRalph Waldo Emerson
- βWhether you succeed or not is irrelevant, there is no such thing. Making your unknown known is the important thing.” βGeorgia OβKeeffe
- “Great art picks up where nature ends.β βMarc Chagall
- βI think of art as the highest level of creativity. To me, it is one of the greatest sources of enjoyment.β βDavid Rockefeller
- “Art enables us to find ourselves and lose ourselves at the same time.β βThomas Merton
- βCreativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes. Art is knowing which ones to keep.β βScott Adams
- βYou see things; and you say, βWhy?β But I dream things that never were; and I say, βWhy notβ?β βGeorge Bernard Shaw
- βCreativity is a drug I cannot live without.β βCecil B. DeMille
- “No one can write the book that you are going to write. It’s as simple as that.” βDarien Gee
- βOriginality is nothing but judicious imitation.β βVoltaire
- βImagination is the beginning of creation. You imagine what you desire, you will what you imagine, and at last, you create what you will.β βGeorge Bernard Shaw
- βYou canβt wait for inspiration, you have to go after it with a club.β βJack London
- βCreativity is contagious, pass it on.β βAlbert Einstein
- βArt washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life.ββPablo Picasso
- βColor is my day-long obsession, joy and torment.β βClaude Monet
- βDonβt think about making art, just get it done. Let everyone else decide if itβs good or bad, whether they love it or hate it. While they are deciding, make even more art. ” βAndy Warhol
- βCreativity is nothing but a mind set free.β βTorrie T. Asai
- βCreativity comes from a conflict of ideas.β βDonatella Versace
- βCreativity is the power to connect the seemingly unconnected.” βWilliam Plomer
- βDonβt think. Thinking is the enemy of creativity. Itβs self-conscious, and anything self-conscious is lousy. You canβt try to do things. You simply must do things.β βRay Bradbury
- βThe artist has one function β to affirm and glorify life.β βW. Edward Brow
- βEvery artist was first an amateur.β βRalph Waldo Emerson
- βNo artist is ahead of his time. He is his time, itβs just that others are behind the times.β βMartha Graham
- βThe Achilles heel of an artist lies in the hope that his art is good.β βKapil Gupta
- βThe artist is not a different kind of person, but every person is a different kind of artist.β βEric Gill
- βArt, in itself, is an attempt to bring order out of chaos.β βStephen Sondheim
- βCulture is the arts elevated to a set of beliefs.β βThomas Wolfe
- βThe aim of art is to represent not the outward appearance of things, but their inward significance.β βAristotle
- βYou have a million excuses. Write anyway.β βCarrie Kei Heim
- βGreat design is achieved not when there is nothing left to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.β β De Saint Exupery
- βItβs so fine and yet so terrible to stand in front of a blank canvas.β βPaul Cezanne
- βPractice what you know and it will help you to make clear what you do not know.β βRembrandt
- βA picture is a poem without words.β βHorace
- βA true masterpiece does not tell everything.β βAlbert Camus
- βCuriosity about life in all of its aspects, I think, is still the secret of great creative people.β βLeo Burnett
- βIdeas come from everything.β βAlfred Hitchcock
- βDonβt be satisfied with stories, how things have gone with others. Unfold your own myth.β βRumi
- βEvery child has the spirit of creation. The rubbish of life often exterminates the spirit through plague and a soulβs own wretchedness.β βPeter Paul Rubens
- βEvery new idea is just a mashup or a remix of one or more previous ideas.β βAustin Kleon
- βI am an artwork in constant progress; I am my own canvas, my own colors, my own brushes, and my own inspiration.β βEfrat Cybulkiewicz
- βI donβt want to be interesting. I want to be good.β βLudwig Mies Van Der Rohe
- βI go to seek a great perhaps.β βJohn Green
- βI have already settled it for myself so flattery and criticism go down the same drain and I am quite free.β βGeorgia OβKeeffe
- βIdeas are like rabbits. You get a couple and learn how to handle them, and pretty soon you have a dozen.β βJohn Steinbeck
- βIt is only when we are no longer fearful that we begin to create.β βJ. M. W. Turner
- βThe moment you cheat for the sake of beauty, you know youβre an artist.β βDavid Hockney
- βArt deteriorates when it is done for the audience.β βJames Pierce
- βThe great artist is the simplifier.β βVincent van Gogh
- βThe only thing I know is that I paint because I need to.β βFrida Kahlo
- βNever worry about being obsessive. I like obsessive people. Obsessive people make great art.β βSusan Sontag
- βIn any art youβre allowed to steal anything if you can make it better.β βErnest Hemingway
- βArt is meant to disturb, science reassures.β βGeorges Braque
- βA work is finished when an artist realizes his intentions.β βRembrandt
- βOnly when he no longer knows what he is doing does the painter do good things.” βEdgar Degas
- βArt is the expression of the profoundest thoughts in the simplest way.β βAlbert Einstein
- βArt is to look at not to criticize.β βEdgar Allen Poe
- βI shut my eyes in order to see.β βPaul Gauguin
- βArt is the most intense mode of individualism that the world has known.β βOscar Wilde
- βControversy is part of the nature of art and creativity.β βYoko Ono
- βI am not an adventurer by choice but by fate.β βVincent van Gogh
- βIt is absurd to look for perfection.β βCamille Pissarro
- βTo create, one must first question everything.β βEileen Gray
- βThe most important thing about art is to work. Nothing else matters except sitting down every day and trying.β βSteven Pressfield
- βThe only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work.β βSteve Jobs
- βItβs on the strength of observation and reflection that one finds a way. So we must dig and delve unceasingly.β βClaude Monet
- βOne must spoil as many canvases as one succeeds with.β βVincent van Gogh
- βNot everyone can become a great artist, but a great artist can come from anywhere.β βPeter OβToole
- βThe greatest respect an artist can pay to music is to give it life.β βPablo Casals
- βThere are more valid facts and details in works of art than there are in history books.β βCharlie Chaplin
- βArt is not what you see, but what you see through.β βJoe Koolish
- βArt is never finished; it is only abandoned.β βJean Cocteau
- βIt is by doing, doing, doing, and by trying, trying, trying that we seem to acquire wisdom.β βGeorge Bernard Shaw
- βArt is not a mirror; it is a hammer. It is not a portrait; it is a protest.β βAndre Malraux
- βArt is the personal use of the universal.β βGrace Lee Boggs
- βThe artist must know, must see with his mindβs eye, must feel with his heart and then translate into his own unique language and style.β βLeonard Cohen
- βArt has no purpose other than itself. It is better for being impractical, inefficient, and unnecessary. Its very existence is its most beautiful and worthwhile feature.β βDonna Haraway
- “Art is not a thing, it is a way.” βElbert Hubbard
- “Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.” βTheodore Roosevelt
- “Art flourishes where there is a sense of adventure.” βAlfred North Whitehead
- “Painting is silent poetry, and poetry is painting that speaks.” βSimonides
- “Art does not reflect what is seen, rather it makes the hidden visible.β βPaul Klee
- “The artist has a special task and duty: the task of reminding men of their humanity and the promise of their creativity.” βLewis Mumford
- “Draw the art you want to see.” βAustin Kleon
- “If you draw, the world becomes more beautiful, far more beautiful.” βE.O. Plauen
- “To live a creative life, we must lose our fear of being wrong.” βJoseph Chilton Pearce
- “The things you are passionate about are not random, they are your calling.” βFabienne Frederickson
- “Talent is good. Practice is better. Passion is best.” βFrank Lloyd Wright






The Creative Journey
I’ve learned a lot over the years as an author who has had small advances and big advances, awards and no awards, good reviews and bad reviews. I have had my ups and downs, sometimes letting months pass before I am able to do my work again. Getting in a creative rut is hard, because at some point you have to get out, and the longer you’ve been in it, the harder it is. Consider these quotes small nudges to get you where you want to go, to get you back on the path of your creative journey.
One thing I know for sure is that nothing is permanent, and neither is your creative block. I hope these quotes ignite your imagination and help you remember who you are as an artist, writer, creator. Choose your favorites and turn to these quotes whenever you need some motivation.
Do not allow a creative stumbling block to derail your progress or dampen your spirits. DonΚ»t give up and continue creating (if you need a push, try one of these prompts). If you do best with daily reminders, check out this calendar. When you show up for the blank page or canvas, inspiration will find its way back to you.
"Another word for creativity is courage." -Henri Matisse Click To Tweet


You got this. Now go out there and create something great!