The Marginalian
The Marginalian

Search results for “the creative spark”

The Third Self: Mary Oliver on Time, Concentration, the Artist’s Task, and the Central Commitment of the Creative Life
The Third Self: Mary Oliver on Time, Concentration, the Artist’s Task, and the Central Commitment of the Creative Life

“The most regretful people on earth are those who felt the call to creative work, who felt their own creative power restive and uprising, and gave to it neither power nor time.”

read article

I Work Like a Gardener: Joan Miró on Art, Motionless Movement, and the Proper Pace of Creative Labor
I Work Like a Gardener: Joan Miró on Art, Motionless Movement, and the Proper Pace of Creative Labor

“Art can die; what matters is that it should have sown seeds on the earth… It must give birth to a world.”

read article

Creative Courage for Young Hearts: 15 Emboldening Picture Books Celebrating the Lives of Great Artists, Writers, and Scientists
Creative Courage for Young Hearts: 15 Emboldening Picture Books Celebrating the Lives of Great Artists, Writers, and Scientists

Jane Goodall, Julia Child, Pablo Neruda, Marie Curie, E.E. Cummings, Albert Einstein, Ella Fitzgerald, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, Frida Kahlo, and more.

read article

To Paint Is to Love Again: Henry Miller on Art and Why Good Friends Are Essential for Creative Work
To Paint Is to Love Again: Henry Miller on Art and Why Good Friends Are Essential for Creative Work

“What sustains the artist is the look of love in the eyes of the beholder. Not money, not the right connections, not exhibitions, not flattering reviews.”

read article

Joni Mitchell on Therapy and the Creative Mind
Joni Mitchell on Therapy and the Creative Mind

“An artist needs a certain amount of turmoil and confusion.”

read article

Big Magic: Elizabeth Gilbert on Creative Courage and the Art of Living in a State of Uninterrupted Marvel
Big Magic: Elizabeth Gilbert on Creative Courage and the Art of Living in a State of Uninterrupted Marvel

“Do you have the courage to bring forth the treasures that are hidden within you?”

read article

Patti Smith on Prayer, the Love of Books, and How Illness Expands the Field of Creative Awareness
Patti Smith on Prayer, the Love of Books, and How Illness Expands the Field of Creative Awareness

“Lying deep within myself … I seized a most worthy souvenir, a shard of heaven’s kaleidoscope.”

read article

The Nature and Nurture of Genius: The Sweet Illustrated Story of How Henri Matisse’s Childhood Shaped His Creative Legacy
The Nature and Nurture of Genius: The Sweet Illustrated Story of How Henri Matisse’s Childhood Shaped His Creative Legacy

A heartening testament to the nourishing power of parental love in the cultivation of greatness.

read article

Voltaire on How to Write Well and Stay True to Your Creative Vision
Voltaire on How to Write Well and Stay True to Your Creative Vision

“Beware, lest in attempting the grand, you overshoot the mark and fall into the grandiose.”

read article

Rejection as Creative Catalyst: A Lesson in Entrepreneurship from <em>New Yorker</em> Cartoon Editor Bob Mankoff
Rejection as Creative Catalyst: A Lesson in Entrepreneurship from New Yorker Cartoon Editor Bob Mankoff

A tale of finding art in the absurd and entrepreneurial spark in the rejected.

read article

View Full Site

The Marginalian participates in the Bookshop.org and Amazon.com affiliate programs, designed to provide a means for sites to earn commissions by linking to books. In more human terms, this means that whenever you buy a book from a link here, I receive a small percentage of its price, which goes straight back into my own colossal biblioexpenses. Privacy policy. (TLDR: You're safe — there are no nefarious "third parties" lurking on my watch or shedding crumbs of the "cookies" the rest of the internet uses.)