Bridget Riley Quotes

As a creative person, you have to keep going. There's no defined career path. There's no security.

Growing up in a small town gives you two things: a sense of place and a feeling of self-consciousness - self-consciousness about one's education and exposure, both of which tend to be limited. On the other hand, limited possibilities also mean creating your own options.

I just have to take my chances like any other composer.

I seem to - knock on wood - land on my feet and work, but you can never get too comfortable, and that's kind of a good thing.

I try to remember that the job - as well as the plight, and the unexpected joy - of the artist is to embrace uncertainty, to be sharpened and honed by it.

Creative Endeavors are by their nature uncertain.

Each time I undertake to paint a picture I have a sensation of leaping into space. I never know whether I shall fall on my feet. It is only later that I begin to estimate more exactly the the effect of my work.

I think that this stage in my life is really, for a lot of reasons, pretty incredible. Being a solo artist and trying to take these bold steps on my own.

Each day is a branch of the Tree of Life laden heavily with fruit. If we lie down lazily beneath it, we may starve; but if we shake the branches, some of the fruit will fall for us.

It was so easy to disown what you couldn't recognize, to keep yourself apart from things that were foreign and unsettling. The only person you can be sure to control, always, is yourself. Which is a lot to be sure of, but at the same time, not enough.

The moment we live in is a great time to make art. We have different technologies to play with, and we're left with the opportunity to focus on our work.

The joy of art is particularly sweet, though, because it carries with it the threat of rejection, of failure, and of missed connections. It's precisely the high-wire act of "this might not work" that makes original art worth doing.

The marathon is an opportunity for redemption. Opportunity, because the outcome is uncertain. Opportunity, because it is up to you, and only you, to make it happen.

He who would bring home the wealth of the Indies must carry the wealth of the Indies with him.

I think the trick of being a writer is to basically put your cards out there all the time and be willing to be as in the dark about what happens next as your reader would be at that time.

If you think about it enough to have a really articulate answer, you're not doing it right. That's how I feel about art. If your thought process could take you to knowing exactly what you're doing and why, there would be no point in making the art. It would become like propaganda. It's more nebulous than that.

I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life, so nothing of what I was studying seemed to fit. I know now that I should have taken advantage of that time and that I missed a great deal of the opportunity to educate myself.

A resourceful person will always make opportunity fit his or her needs.

I love the unexpected and I think that's why documentary is an attractive genre to me because you don't know where it's going to go, so I tend to involve that as much as possible in the production process.

It's tough to watch a movie you're in - you put everything into it, you want everything to work, and you never know until you see it all together.

I've done a lot of different things. I would say, it's really hard for me to say what the ultimate role would be. You look at a film if it comes to you.

I know what's what, and have always taken care of the main chance.

A craftsman knows in advance what the finished result will be, while the artist knows only what it will be when he has finished it.

What so many actors are chasing after is an opportunity to evolve and dive into roles that present unique challenges and give you an opportunity to dig your teeth into something unknown, and therefore risky and exciting.

Because there might come a day when there is no flashlight, there is no gun, there is no guiding hand. And I want to be ready for it." (divergent pg.138)