10 “Big Magic” Quotes to Motivate You

I just finished reading Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert, the author of Eat Pray Love. It was wonderful. Gilbert really knows how to inspire using her personal experience and struggles, as well as the stories of others.

I realized quickly I would be reading the entirety of the book with a pen in hand. I could quote the entire thing, but here are my favorites:

On Creative Living

1| “I happen to believe we are walking repositories of buried treasure. […] The hunt to uncover those jewels — that’s creative living. The courage to go on that hunt in the first place — that’s what separates a mundane existence for a more enchanted one.”

2| “[I] place my trust in the crazy notion that my work loves me as much as I love it.”

3| “Our creativity is a wild and unexpected bonus from the universe. It’s as if all our gods and angels gathered together and said, ‘It’s tough down there as a human being, we know. Here — have some delights.’”

4| “It only worked because I said yes to every single tiny clue of curiosity that I had noticed around me.”

5| “My ultimate choice is to always approach my work from a place of stubborn gladness.”

On Doing Your Work

6| “It’s a simple and generous rule of life that whatever you practice, you will improve at.”

7| “At some point, you really just have to finish your work and release it as is — if only so that you can go on to make other things with a glad and determined heart.”

On Fighting Failure

8| “My desire to work — my desire to engage with my creativity as intimately and as freely as possible — is my strongest personal incentive to fight back against pain and to fashion a life for myself that is as sane and healthy and stable as it can possibly be.”

“It only worked because I said yes to every single tiny clue of curiosity that I had noticed around me.”

9| “You are not required to save the world with your creativity. You’re art not only doesn’t have to be original, it also doesn’t have to be important.”

10| “Whatever you do, try not to dwell too long on your failures. You don’t need to conduct autopsies on your disasters. You don’t need to know what anything means. Remember: The gods of creativity are not obliged to explain anything to us. Own your disappointment, acknowledge it for what it is, and move on.”