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Creative Act Quotes

The work of making something

These quotes frame the creative act as one of the most powerful things a person can offer, closely tied to the ideas explored under Creative.

I hope people start to look at their lives as the most powerful, creative act they will ever offer this world.

Quotes by Tom Shadyac

So every creative act strives to attain an absolute status; it longs to create a world of beauty to triumph over chaos and convert it to order.

Quotes by Rowan Williams

The creative act is not pure. History evidences it. Sociology extracts it. The writer loses Eden, writes to be read and comes to realize that he is answerable.

Quotes by Nadine Gordimer

The creative act is also in a small way a suffering act - we start out with our ego, this hope of making this thing whatever it be, but so often it eludes us and it collapses and we kind...

Quotes by Michael Leunig

Art Quotes

The creative act is like writing a letter. A letter is a project; you don't sit down to write a letter unless you know what you want to say and to whom you want to say it.

Quotes by Lukas Foss

The creative act lasts but a brief moment, a lightning instant of give-and-take, just long enough for you to level the camera and to trap the fleeting prey in your little box.

Quotes by Henri Cartier-Bresson

It is the mystery of the creative act that something other than our conscious self takes over.

Quotes by Arthur Erickson

Frequently Asked Questions

How do these creative act quotes describe the process?
They describe the creative act as a powerful offering to the world, but also as something impure, effortful, and often close to suffering.
Is there a quote calling the creative act a gift to the world?
Yes, one line hopes people come to view their whole lives as the single most powerful, creative gift they could ever give the world.
Do the quotes admit the creative act can be difficult?
Yes, one speaker calls it a small kind of suffering act, where ego and hope often collapse before the work is finished.
Is the creative act compared to anything ordinary?
One quote compares it to writing a letter, a deliberate project undertaken only once the writer knows what they want to say.
Where can I read more about creativity in general?
Related ideas continue on the Creative page, which covers the broader impulse behind making art.

Others are more honest about the cost, comparing the process to writing a letter with real intent, or admitting it starts in ego and often collapses along the way.