Very quickly a painting is turned into a facsimile of itself when one becomes so familiar with with it that one recognizes it without looking at it.
Robert RauschenbergRead
Screwing things up is a virtue. Being correct is never the point. I have an almost fanatically correct assistant, and by the time she re-spells my words and corrects my punctuation, I can't read what I wrote. Being right can stop all the momentum of a very interesting idea.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Embracing mistakes can foster creativity, while being overly concerned with correctness can stifle innovation.
This quote by Robert Rauschenberg emphasizes the importance of valuing the creative process over the pursuit of perfection. It suggests that making mistakes is a natural and necessary part of developing ideas, and that a fixation on being correct can hinder the flow of innovative thoughts and expressions. Rauschenberg illustrates the tension between the desire for neatness in communication and the chaotic, fluid nature of creativity, advocating for the acceptance of errors as a vital part of artistic exploration.
Themes
CreativityInnovationMistakesPerfectionArtMomentum
In practice
Example use cases
In a creative writing workshop, this quote can serve as a reminder that rough drafts are necessary for good writing.
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There was a whole language that I could never make function for myself in relationship to painting, and that was attitudes like tortured, struggle, pain.
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