Everything passes, and what remains of former times, what remains of life, is the spiritual. In everything we do, the claim of the Absolute is unchanging.
Paul KleeRead
You adapt yourself to the contents of the paintbox.
Interpretation
The quote suggests that one must adjust to their environment and the resources available to them.
Paul Klee's quote 'You adapt yourself to the contents of the paintbox' conveys the idea that creativity and adaptability are essential in art and life. Just as an artist utilizes the colors and materials at hand to create, individuals must learn to make the best of their circumstances and adjust to their surroundings to thrive and express themselves effectively.
In practice
In a motivational speech about creativity, one could use this quote to emphasize the importance of adaptation.
Everything passes, and what remains of former times, what remains of life, is the spiritual. In everything we do, the claim of the Absolute is unchanging.
The painter should not paint what he sees, but what will be seen.
To emphasize only the beautiful seems to me to be like a mathematical system that only concerns itself with positive numbers.
It is a great difficulty and a great necessity to have to start with the smallest.
All art is a memory of age-old things, dark things, whose fragments live on in the artist.
The more horrible this world (as today, for instance), the more abstract our art, whereas a happy world brings forth an art of the here and now.
Geniuses can be scintillating and geniuses can be somber, but it's that inescapable sorrowful depth that shines through-originality.
If you can actually get someone to sit on the edge of their seat and feel nervous if there's a knock at the door, then you've done something pretty terrific as a writer.
Space has a way of looking. It seems like it has a presence of vision. When you come into it, it is there, itβs been waiting for you.
The thing that hasn't changed, and I don't think will ever change, is that the operative word in music is "play." You have to have a playfulness about it. As the world shifts, it's starting to understand more and more that to have a playfulness about any and everything is actually the way of having a better life, or being more creative, or being more productive.
When I see a white piece of paper, I feel I've got to draw. And drawing, for me, is the beginning of everything.
What I capture in spite of myself interests me more than my own ideas.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.