Natalie Goldberg Quotes

And what, you ask, does writing teach us? First and foremost, it reminds us that we are alive and that it is a gift and a privilege, not a right.

For me, a life without expectation results in a life with inspiration.

After you turn on, don't spend the rest of your life contemplating the inner wonders. Begin immediately expressing your revelation in acts of beauty.

In the middle of the world, make one positive step. In the center of chaos, make one definitive act. Just write.

Writing crystallizes thought and thought produces action.

The writer has two kinds of faith: actual writing and sitting openly. Have faith in your personal effort or sweat. And faith in God, or whatever you want to call it. Then the voices will come. Faith is the big deal.

I think songwriting is the ultimate form of being able to make anything that happens in your life productive.

You must not for one instant give up the effort to build new lives for yourselves. Creativity means to push open the heavy, groaning doorway to life.

I write a lot more when I'm happy, because you're hopeful, you're motivated.

But once I acclimated and really used fame for what it was offering me as a tool to serve my life purpose of inspiring and contributing, then it started to get fun again.

Ideas aren't magical; the only tricky part is holding on to one long enough to get it written down.

I don't have any office; I can write everywhere. So, I put a piece of paper on the table, and then I travel. Literally, writing for me is like travelling. It's getting out of myself and living another life - maybe a better life.

I believe enlightenment or revelation comes in daily life. I look for joy, the peace of action. You need action. I'd have stopped writing years ago if it were for the money.

I'm going to continue the dancing because it really was an inspiration; it changed my life.

My garage/office is strewn with Post-its, cards, folders, notebooks, yoga mats and multicoloured pens, all purchased in a quest to unlock a magic way of working that will ensure my ascension to next-level creativity.

I want to be inspired when I'm working, and for that, I can go wherever it takes me.

I say it's easier to write for other people than write for myself.

As an artist, what I'm looking for isn't the answers but the questions. Art saved my life, and I'm sure that it could save the lives of many people. If it's not art, find your place. But never give up.

Writing of every kind is a way to wake oneself up and keep as alive as when one has just fallen in love.

Start writing, no matter what. The water does not flow until the faucet is turned on

You don't need to go to a therapist, you don't need to do all kinds of things. If you want to write, you physically have to do it.

I felt like I had experienced a lot of things in the first chapter of my life, and I wanted it to inspire and motivate people, so I just started writing.

Writing is mysterious, and it's supposed to be...any path that gets you there is a good path in the end. But one true thing among all these paths is the need to tap a deep vein of connection between our own uncontrollable interior preoccupations and what we're most concerned about in the world around us. We write in response to that world; we write in response to what we read and learn; and in the end we write out of our deepest selves, the live, breathing, bleeding place where the picture forms, and where it all begins.

Write even when the world is chaotic. You don’t need a cigarette, silence, music, a comfortable chair, or inner peace to write. You just need ten minutes and a writing implement.

It's kind of ridiculous that I find inspiration in just getting away from everything. But when you've gone through it, you realize that it's the enemy. It's a distraction from what you're really doing. You've got to keep moving. Like a shark.