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37 Fascinating Quotes from Big Magic

Elizabeth Gilbert is a renowned American author, short story writer, and novelist. Known for her memoir and best selling book, ‘Eat, Pray, Love,’ Gilbert has also contributed to more than another half dozen works of art. Here is a look at some of her best known quotes from her book, ‘Big Magic.’

“A creative life is an amplified life. It’s a bigger life, a happier life, an expanded life, and a hell of a lot more interesting life.”

“And since creativity is still the most effective way for me to access wonder, I choose it.”

“Be the weirdo who dares to enjoy.”

“But it’s a terrible master-because the only thing your ego ever wants to reward, reward, and more reward. Always remember this: you are not only and ego; you are also a soul.”

“Creative entitlement doesn’t mean behaving like a princess, or acting as though the world owes you anything whatsoever. No, creative entitlement simply means believing that you are allowed to be here, and that—merely by being here—you are allowed to have a voice and a vision of your own.”

“Creativity is a path for the brave, yes, but it is not a path for the fearless, and it’s important to recognize the distinction. Bravery means doing something scary. Fearlessness means not even understanding what the word scary means.”

“Do whatever brings you to life, then. Follow your own fascinations, obsessions, and compulsions. Trust them. Create whatever causes a revolution in your heart.”

“Don’t abandon your creativity the moment things top being easy or rewarding — because that’s the moment when interesting beings.”

“Every time you express a complaint about how difficult and tiresome it is to be creative, inspiration takes another step away from you, offended.”

“Everybody imitates before they can innovate.”

“Fear is always triggered by creativity, because creativity asks you to enter into reals of an uncertain outcome. And fear hates an uncertain outcome. This is nothing to be ashamed of. It is, however, something to be dealt with.”

“Ideas are driven by a single impulse: to be made manifest.”

“Ideas of every kind are constantly galloping toward us, constantly pass through us, constantly trying to get our attention.”

“If I am not actively creating something, then chances are I am probably actively destroying something — myself, a relationship, or my own peace of mind.”

“If you don’t have the courage, let’s try to get you some. Because creative living is a path for the brave. We all know this. And we all know that when courage dies, creativity dies with it.”

“If you’re alive, you’re a creative person.”

“It seems to me that the less I fight my fear, the less it fights back. If I can relax, fear relaxes, too.”

“Keep your eyes open. Listen. Follow your curiosity. Ideas are constantly trying to get our attention. Let them know you’re available.”

“Let inspiration lead you wherever it wants. For most of history people just made things, and they didn’t make such a big freaking deal out of it.”

“Most of their lives, most people just walk around saying: No, No, No, No, No. Then again, someday you just might say yes.”

“One of the oldest and most generous tricks that the universe plays on human beings is to bury strange jewels within us all, and then stand back to see if we can ever find them.”

“Pure creativity is something better than a necessity; it’s a gift. It’s the frosting. Our creativity is a wild and unexpected bonus from the universe.”

“So take your insecurities and your fears and hold them upside down by their ankles and shake yourself free of all your cumbersome ideas about what you require (and how much you need to pay) in order to become creatively legitimate.”

“The paradox that you need to comfortably inhabit, if you wish to live a contented creative life, goes something like this: ‘My creative expression must be the most important thing in the world to me (if I am to live artistically), and it also must not matter at all (if I am to live sanely).'”

“There’s no dishonor in having a job. What is dishonorable is scaring away your creativity by demanding that it pay for your entire existence.”

“This is a world, not a womb. You can look after yourself in this world while looking after your creativity at the same time — just as people have done for ages.”

“This is how I want to spend my life — collaborating with forces of inspiration that I can neither see, nor prove, nor command, nor understand.”

“This, I believe, is the central question upon which all creative living hinges: Do you have the courage to bring forth the treasures that are hidden within you?”

“Through the mere act of creating something—anything—you might inadvertently produce work that is magnificent, eternal, or important.”

“What is a creative living? Any life that is driven more strongly by curiosity than by fear.”

“What is creativity? ‘Creativity is a crushing chore and a glorious mystery. The work wants to be made, and it wants to be made through you.”

“When I refer to “creative living,”… I’m talking about living a life that is driven more strongly by curiosity than by fear.”

“Work with all your heart, because—I promise—if you show up for your work day after day after day after day, you just might get lucky enough some random morning to burst right into bloom.”

“You do not need anybody’s permission to live a creative life.”

“You have extraordinary treasures hidden within you. Bringing forth those treasures takes work and faith and focus and courage and hours of devotion. We simply do not have time anymore to think so small.”

“You own reasons to make are reason enough. Create whatever causes a revolution in your heart.”

“Your own reasons to create are reason enough. Merely by pursuing what you love, you may inadvertently end up helping us plenty.”

Check out the following interview with Elizabeth Gilbert on her new book, ‘Big Magic: Creative Living Without Fear.’ This invaluable how to guide discusses practical ways to pursue creativity and argues that curiosity can be considered more important than passion. Ignoring the potential for creativity can lead to more destruction than you think.

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