232 Quotes by Amanda Palmer

Here is one successful recipe I have used to deal with haters, trolling, bullying, and other manifestations of critical voices. We all have them. Take the scathing article, hurtful office gossip, or nasty online comment. Hold it in your mind. Now imagine the scathing article, hurtful office gossip, or nasty online comment being aimed at the Dalai Lama.

From what I’ve seen, it isn’t so much the act of asking that paralyzes us – it’s what lies beneath: the fear of being vulnerable, the fear of rejection, the fear of looking needy or weak. The fear of being seen as a burdensome member of the community instead of a productive one.

When you’re an artist, nobody ever tells you or hits you with the magic wand of legitimacy. You have to hit your own head with your own handmade wand. And you feel stupid doing it.

Everybody out there is winging it to some degree, of this we can be pretty sure.

To erase the possibility of empathy is to erase the possibility of understanding.

In other words, let’s give our young women the right weapons to fight with as they charge naked into battle, instead of ordering them to get back in the house and put some goddamn clothes on.

Our first job in life is to recognize the gifts we’ve already got, take the donuts that show up while we cultivate and use those gifts, and then turn around and share those gifts – sometimes in the form of money, sometimes time, sometimes love – back into the puzzle of the world. Our second job is to accept where we are in the puzzle at each moment.

The impulse to connect the dots – and to share what you’ve connected – is the urge that makes you an artist.

People can understand a price tag, no matter what it’s stuck on. But some can’t understand a messier exchange of asking and giving – the gift that stays in motion.