Real Artists Have Day Jobs Quotes

“You’ll make better art after a day at the office than you will after a lifetime in an ivory tower.”
― Sara Benincasa, Real Artists Have Day Jobs:

“I’m trying to be a better person and I’m pretty sure that even when I die, I won’t be done with that.”
― Sara Benincasa, Real Artists Have Day Jobs:

“People on both sides of the political aisle talk disparagingly about “liberal white guilt.” I’m liberal and I’m white, but I don’t feel guilty. I feel responsible. I feel motivated. I feel energized. To me, there’s a difference between a sense of guilt and a sense of awareness. Guilt wastes everybody’s time. Awareness is the first step toward change. I’m not going to save the world. I’m not trying to save the world. I’m trying to be less of an asshole. I’m trying to be a better human being, because it helps other people and because it makes me happier and healthier. I’m figuring it out as I go along, and I’m fucking up and failing and doing well and succeeding. I don’t expect anybody to pat me on the head and say, “Good job!” I still haven’t read all those fancy books, or learned all the multisyllabic jargon that’s currently in fashion. But I’m grappling with the ideas, and I’m trying. I bet you are, too. Let’s make an agreement to try to be a little bit better each and every day, in word and deed and action. Don’t be like me and automatically reject a concept just because you don’t feel like making room for it in your cluttered brain. You can do it. That’s the great thing about brains: they can encompass infinite ideas and infinite possibilities—even the possibility that, one day in the future, we can all love each other and take care of each other. It won’t happen in my lifetime, but that’s no reason I can’t keep reaching for it.”
― Sara Benincasa, Real Artists Have Day Jobs:

“I have discovered that boring people measure your value by your dress size, your marital status, and whether or not you have reproduced or plan to reproduce. I don’t hang around with many of these people, but I was raised steeped in this kind of culture, so I’ve absorbed some of it. It is a joy to unlearn these bullshit lessons.”
― Sara Benincasa, Real Artists Have Day Jobs:

“Believe me when I tell you that no matter how much time you spend at the office, it’s just a side gig.”
― Sara Benincasa, Real Artists Have Day Jobs:

“But what if I ask for help and people say no?” you maybe say to me, quietly. “DO IT ANYWAY,” I definitely say to you, loudly and enthusiastically. You must tell people exactly what you want from them if you have any hope that they will give it to you.”
― Sara Benincasa, Real Artists Have Day Jobs:

“When I was growing up, I thought, Nothing is worth doing unless you can do it perfectly. This is a stupid bullshit devil thing to think and/or believe. I now say, “Nothing is worth doing unless you can do it mostly okay.”
― Sara Benincasa, Real Artists Have Day Jobs:

“Basically, I needed to stop treating people like symbols and starting treating people like, well, people.... Person-to-person contact is the most important aspect of change. It is hard to look into another person's eyes and hear their honest story and still fear them, or hate them, or see them as less than you.”
― Sara Benincasa, Real Artists Have Day Jobs: And Other Awesome Things They Don't Teach You in School

“When I read, I count the moments, not the pages.”
― Sara Benincasa, Real Artists Have Day Jobs: And Other Awesome Things They Don't Teach You in School

“I have always been suspicious of those who give advice without admitting their own misdeeds and missteps. To me, the most authentic insight comes from those who acknowledge their own shortcomings and readily admit they are still working on improving themselves each and every day.”
― Sara Benincasa, Real Artists Have Day Jobs: And Other Awesome Things They Don't Teach You in School

“There is more nobility in hard work than in pure luck (though every artist can use a bit of that). You’ll make better art after a day at the office than you will after a lifetime in an ivory tower. Real artists have day jobs, and night jobs, and afternoon jobs. Real artists make things other than art, and then they make time to make art because art is screaming to get out from inside them. Screaming, or begging, or gently whispering. Don’t ever let them tell you you’re not a success. Don’t ever let them tell you you’re not good enough. Don’t ever let them tell you you’re not the real deal. More important: don’t ever tell yourself any of these things. Believe me when I tell you that no matter how much time you spend at the office, it’s just a side gig. You are an artist, full-time, twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. Now go make your art.”
― Sara Benincasa, Real Artists Have Day Jobs:

“Real artists have day jobs, and night jobs, and afternoon jobs. Real artists make things other than art, and then they make time to make art because art is screaming to get out from inside them. Screaming, or begging, or gently whispering. Don’t ever let them tell you you’re not a success. Don’t ever let them tell you you’re not good enough. Don’t ever let them tell you you’re not the real deal. More important: don’t ever tell yourself any of these things. Believe me when I tell you that no matter how much time you spend at the office, it’s just a side gig.”
― Sara Benincasa, Real Artists Have Day Jobs:

“realized, Oh my goodness. When I reject people’s compliments, I’m rejecting their honest opinion and I’m also rejecting my own worth. Over and over again, I’m saying, “Hi, Nice Person—you’re wrong about me. Also, I don’t deserve to feel good about myself.” How is that any way to live?”
― Sara Benincasa, Real Artists Have Day Jobs:

“No one is perfect. No one is impervious to steps back, to relapses, to regressions. Triumph over one ailment does not mean triumph over all difficulties. You get to be imperfect. You get to be flawed. You get to be human. You get to make poor eating decisions, to forget about self-care, to be cross and grumpy and moody and sad and anything else you want to be. It will almost certainly get better, but first you’ve got to slog through the day. Whether we say it or not, the rest of us are all down there in the muck with you.”
― Sara Benincasa, Real Artists Have Day Jobs: