340 Quotes by Austin Kleon

Don’t talk to people you don’t want to talk to, and don’t talk about stuff you don’t want to talk about.

The best way to vanquish your enemies on the Internet? Ignore them. 

Write the book you want to read

The best advice is not to write what you know, it's to write what you like. Write the kind of story you like best- write the story you want to read.

Nobody is born with a style or a voice. We don't come out of the womb knowing who we are. In the beginning, we learn by pretending to be our heroes. We learn by copying.

Don't just steal the style, steal the thinking behind the style. You don't want to look like your heroes, you want to see like your heroes.

When you find something you genuinely enjoy, don't let anyone else make you feel bad about it. Don't feel guilty about the pleasure you take in the things you enjoy. Celebrate them.

Relax and breathe. The trouble with imaginative people is that we're good at picturing the worst that could happen to us. Fear is often just the imagination taking a wrong turn. Bad criticism is not the end of the world. As far as I know, no one has ever died from a bad review. Take a deep breath and accept whatever comes.

It’s one of my theories that when people give you advice, they’re really just talking to themselves in the past.