The Marginalian
The Marginalian

Reads tagged with “creativity”

Being vs. Becoming: John Steinbeck on Creative Integrity, the Art of Changing Your Mind, the Humanistic Duty of the Artist
Being vs. Becoming: John Steinbeck on Creative Integrity, the Art of Changing Your Mind, the Humanistic Duty of the Artist

“If I can’t do better I have slipped badly… I beat poverty for a good many years and I’ll be damned if I’ll go down at the first little whiff of success.”

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Henri Rousseau’s Heartening Story of Success after a Lifetime of Rejection, Illustrated
Henri Rousseau’s Heartening Story of Success after a Lifetime of Rejection, Illustrated

How a kind old man who spent his life in poverty, worked as a toll collector, and was entirely self-taught became one of the world’s greatest artists.

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Legendary Cellist Pablo Casals, at Age 93, on Creative Vitality and How Working with Love Prolongs Your Life
Legendary Cellist Pablo Casals, at Age 93, on Creative Vitality and How Working with Love Prolongs Your Life

“The man who works and is never bored is never old. Work and interest in worthwhile things are the best remedy for age.”

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How Van Gogh Found His Purpose: Heartfelt Letters to His Brother on How Relationships Refine Us
How Van Gogh Found His Purpose: Heartfelt Letters to His Brother on How Relationships Refine Us

“Does what goes on inside show on the outside? Someone has a great fire in his soul and nobody ever comes to warm themselves at it, and passers-by see nothing but a little smoke at the top of the chimney.”

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In Praise of Melancholy and How It Enriches Our Capacity for Creativity
In Praise of Melancholy and How It Enriches Our Capacity for Creativity

How the American obsession with happiness at the expense of sadness robs us of the capacity for a full life.

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Pearl S. Buck, the Youngest Woman to Receive the Nobel Prize in Literature, on Art, Writing, and the Nature of Creativity
Pearl S. Buck, the Youngest Woman to Receive the Nobel Prize in Literature, on Art, Writing, and the Nature of Creativity

“The creative instinct is … an enormous extra vitality, a super-energy, born inexplicably in an individual… — an energy which no single life can consume.”

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The Knot in the Rosary: Rilke on How Difficulty Can Fuel Creativity and Why Feedback Poisons Art
The Knot in the Rosary: Rilke on How Difficulty Can Fuel Creativity and Why Feedback Poisons Art

“All art is the result of one’s having been in danger, of having gone through an experience all the way to the end, to where no one can go any further.”

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Lynda Barry’s Illustrated Field Guide to Keeping a Visual Diary and Cultivating a Capacity for Creative Observation
Lynda Barry’s Illustrated Field Guide to Keeping a Visual Diary and Cultivating a Capacity for Creative Observation

How to master the infinitely rewarding art of “being present and seeing what’s there.”

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2014’s Best Books on Psychology, Philosophy, and How to Live Meaningfully
2014’s Best Books on Psychology, Philosophy, and How to Live Meaningfully

How to be alone, wake up from illusion, master the art of asking, fathom your place in the universe, and more.

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Ursula K. Le Guin on Where Ideas Come From, the “Secret” of Great Writing, and the Trap of Marketing Your Work
Ursula K. Le Guin on Where Ideas Come From, the “Secret” of Great Writing, and the Trap of Marketing Your Work

“All makers must leave room for the acts of the spirit. But they have to work hard and carefully, and wait patiently, to deserve them.”

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