Etty Hillesum Quotes

When inspiration is silent reason tires quickly.

Writing is very good for household tasks. Because you'd rather fix a dripping tap or paint an old wall - you'd rather do almost anything than sit and write. I have to reach a point of obsession in order to write, and so I find starting a book incredibly difficult.

I get so many ideas for songs, but I'm so seldom disciplined enough to sit down and crank them out.

Things are not difficult to make; what is difficult is putting ourselves in the state of mind to make them.

True inspiration overrides all fears. When you are inspired, you enter a trance state and can accomplish things that you may never have felt capable of doing.

I often find that having an idea in my head prevents me from doing something else. Working is therefore a way of getting rid of an idea.

I always have music playing in my studio when I design. It really gets me in the mood and allows me to focus.

For a long time, I would write without music, because I thought it was distracting until I appreciated that it actually unlocks a certain unconscious productivity vault in my mind.

I go into my workroom seven mornings a week. There will only be one or two mornings a week where it seems to be going well, but to earn those days you have to go through slow, slodgy days where your mind feels like porridge.

The most difficult thing about painting is the self-discipline. When I finish a job, I give myself a few days, but then I have to discipline myself quite fiercely if I want to do some painting that's worthwhile. Otherwise, you're just doodling. It's much easier when you're just told what you have to do.

A lot of artists think they want anger. But a real, strong, bitter anger occupies the mind, leaving no room for creativity.

I have no discipline, which is a horrible flaw for any writer. Once I'm well started on a project, though, then I'm addicted to it all day long. When it's done, I collapse and have to really kick myself to start a new one.

Some days I can't get an idea, and I think, 'Man, I'm just washed up,' but it's just a mood.

A manuscript under way always gave me something to do; only while enduring the aimlessness between books was I truly glum.

I do some of my best work when I'm dead.

There's no writer's block; there's only distraction.

If you're unhappy, you can't make anything.

I never talk about work in progress because once I talk about it I don't do it anymore.

The best thing for my creative process is a deadline.

When I'm happy and everything's great, I'm not creative at all.

I am not at all in a humour for writing; I must write on till I am.

When I am angry I can write, pray, and preach well, for then my whole temperament is quickened, my understanding sharpened, and all mundane vexations and temptations depart.

Your mood doesn't really matter. Some of the best creative work gets done on the days when you feel that everything you're doing is just plain junk.

An author who waits for the right 'mood' will soon find that 'moods' get fewer and fewer until they cease altogether.

Negativity is the enemy of creativity. For instance if you're filled with depression, you can hardly even get out of bed, let alone feel like creating something. If you are filled with bitter, selfish anger, this occupies the mind and leaves little room for creative ideas.