The really important kind of freedom involves...being able truly to care about other people...
David FosterRead
Don't be too precious about your craft... there's only 26 letters and 12 notes, and Shakespeare and Beethoven said it all better than any of us ever will
Interpretation
What this quote means
One should not overly value their own creations as greatness has already been achieved by previous masters.
David Foster emphasizes that while creativity is important, one should remember that the building blocks of art—like letters and musical notes—are finite. Thus, it's vital to not hold one's craft too dearly, recognizing that the great works of artists like Shakespeare and Beethoven have set a high standard that might never be surpassed.
Themes
CreativityHumilityArtInspirationCraft
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech to aspiring writers, you might say, 'Remember, don't be too precious about your craft...'
More from David Foster
All quotes →I am uncompromising to the point of huge dissension in the studio. And it's served me very well. My theory and my philosophy is, 'Compromise breeds mediocrity.' Obviously, you have to pick your battles, and the more success an artist has, the more they want to be involved in their own career, which is not necessarily a good thing.
David FosterRead
CPR to those elements of what’s human and magical that still live and glow despite the times’ darkness.
David FosterRead
We all suffer alone in the real world; true empathy's impossible.
David FosterRead
Gentlemen, welcome to the world of reality – there is no audience. No one to applaud, to admire. No one to see you. Do you understand? Here is the truth – actual heroism receives no ovation, entertains no one. No one queues up to see it. No one is interested.
David FosterRead
This is what the real, no bullshit value of your liberal arts education is supposed to be about: how to keep from going through your comfortable, prosperous, respectable adult life dead, unconscious, a slave to your head and to your natural default setting of being uniquely, completely, imperially alone day in and day out.
David FosterRead
Similar quotes
Writers collect stories of rituals: John Cheever putting on a jacket and tie to go down to the basement, where he kept a desk near the boiler room. Keats buttoning up his clean white shirt to write in, after work.
Mona SimpsonRead
It is the writer’s job to make the play interesting. It is the actor’s job to make the performance truthful.
David MametRead
It is true that the poet does not directly address his neighbors; but he does address a great congress of persons who dwell at the back of his mind, a congress of all those who have taught him and whom he has admired; they constitute his ideal audience and his better self.
Richard WilburRead
Once a month the sky falls on my head, I come to and I see another movie I want to make.
Steven SpielbergRead
The most difficult thing for me is a portrait. You have to try and put your camera between the skin of a person and his shirt.
Henri Cartier-BressonRead
I would drive to gigs in my tiny little Fiat. I would shoot up and down the M1 to play at various places.
David BowieRead