#expression

Insist on yourself; never imitate. Your own gift you can offer with the cumulative force of a whole life's cultivation, but of the adopted talent of another, you have only an extemporaneous, half possession. ↗

— Ralph Waldo Emerson

#self-expression #uniqueness #life

Through our intentions, a place no power can influence, we have the power to oppose. ↗

— Bryant McGill

#intentions #motives #oppose #motivational

Artists shouldn't wait until they are told what their art should be, they shouldn't follow trends or allow other people to influence their work, an artist should only create from the strongest emotions within their heart ↗

— Andrew James Pritchard

#creativity #emotions #freedom-of-expression #trends #writing

Unexpressed emotions will never die. They are buried alive and will come forth later in uglier ways. ↗

— Sigmund Freud

#expression #freud #repression #self-expression #emotion

These days I just can't seem to say what I mean [...]. I just can't. Every time I try to say something, it misses the point. Either that or I end up saying the opposite of what I mean. The more I try to get it right the more mixed up it gets. Sometimes I can't even remember what I was trying to say in the first place. It's like my body's split in two and one of me is chasing the other me around a big pillar. We're running circles around it. The other me has the right words, but I can never catch her. ↗

— Haruki Murakami

#sleep

Books choose their authors; the act of creation is not entirely a rational and conscious one. ↗

— Salman Rushdie

#ceases #exist #expression #freedom of expression #offend

Each action we take is an act of self-expression. We often think of large-scale or important deeds as being indications of our real selves, but even how we sharpen a pencil can reveal something about our feelings at that moment. Do we sharpen the pencil carefully or nervously so that it doesn’t break? Do we bother to pay attention to what we’re doing? How do we sharpen the same pencil when we’re angry or in a hurry? Is it the same as when we’re calm or unhurried? Even the smallest movement discloses something about the person executing the action because it is the person who’s actually performing the deed. In other words, action doesn’t happen by itself, we make it happen, and in doing so we leave traces of ourselves on the activity. The mind and body are interrelated. ↗

— H.E. Davey

#ki #meditation #mind #mind-and-body-unification #nakamura-tempu

What better occupation, really, than to spend the evening at the fireside with a book, with the wind beating on the windows and the lamp burning bright...Haven't you ever happened to come across in a book some vague notion that you've had, some obscure idea that returns from afar and that seems to express completely your most subtle feelings? ↗

— Gustave Flaubert

#reading #expression

I understand, and not knowing how to express myself without pagan words, I’d rather remain silent ↗

— Arthur Rimbaud

#expression

I'll be firm," I promised Patch, adopting a no-nonsense expression. "No backing down." By now Patch was full-on grinning. He kissed me again, and I felt my mouth soften its resolve. "You look cute when you're trying to be tough," he said. ↗

— Becca Fitzpatrick

#expression