Julia Cameron quotes

Julia Cameron is an American author, artist, and teacher, best known for her influential book "The Artist's Way." Her methods have inspired millions to unlock their creativity and live more fulfilling lives. She continues to teach creativity workshops and write works that help others nurture their artistic potential. Here are 70 of her quotes:

Each of us has an inner dream that we can unfold if we will just have the courage to admit what it is. And the faith to trust our own admission. The admitting is often very difficult.

Julia Cameron

I have learned, as a rule of thumb, never to ask whether you can do something. Say, instead, that you are doing it. Then fasten your seat belt. The most remarkable things follow.

Julia Cameron

What we really want to do is what we are really meant to do. When we do what we are meant to do, money comes to us, doors open for us, we feel useful, and the work we do feels like play to us.

Julia Cameron

Creativity - like human life itself - begins in darkness.

Julia Cameron

Art is not about thinking something up. It is the opposite - getting something down.

Julia Cameron

Love is the substance of all life. Everything is connected in love, absolutely everything.

Julia Cameron

The creative process is a process of surrender, not control.

Julia Cameron

Perfectionism is not a quest for the best. It is a pursuit of the worst in ourselves, the part that tells us that nothing we do will ever be good enough - that we should try again.

Julia Cameron

Mystery is at the heart of creativity. That, and surprise.

Julia Cameron

You do not need to work to become spiritual. Youspiritual; you need only to remember that fact. Spirit is within you. God is within you. (67)

Julia Cameron

God does not give us more than we can handle," I am told but I wonder if God doesn't overestimate me just a little. Or perhaps, and this is likely, I underestimate God.

Julia Cameron

But do you know how old I will be by the time I learn to really play the piano / act / paint / write a decent play?" Yes... the same age you will be if you don't.

Julia Cameron

For most of us, the seductive and unstated part of "if I had enough time" is the unstated sentence "to hear myself think." In other words, we imagine that if we had time we would quiet our more shallow selves and listen to a deeper flow of inspiration. Again, this is a myth that lets us off the hook- if I wait for enough time to listen, I don't have to listen now, I don't have to take responsibility for what is trying to bubble up today.

Julia Cameron

The voice of our original self is often muffled, overwhelmed, even strangled, by the voices of other people's expectations.

Julia Cameron

As you move toward a dream, the dream moves toward you.

Julia Cameron

Creativity requires faith. Faith requires that we relinquish control.

Julia Cameron

What we focus on, we empower and enlarge. Good multiplies when focused upon. Negativity multiplies when focused upon. The choice is ours: Which do we want more of?

Julia Cameron

Procrastination is not Laziness", I tell him. "It is fear. Call it by its right name, and forgive yourself.

Julia Cameron

Spirituality can release blocks, lead you to ideas, and make your life artful. Sometimes when we pray for guidance, we're guided in unexpected directions. We may want a lofty answer and we get the intuition to clean our bedroom. It can seem so humble and picky and that you don't necessarily think of it spiritual guidance.

Julia Cameron

When we put the pen to paper, we articulate things in our life that we may have felt vague about. Before you write about something, somebody says, 'How do you feel?' and you say, 'Oh, I feel okay.' Then you write about it, and you discover you don't feel okay.

Julia Cameron

When we clear the physical clutter from our lives, we literally make way for inspiration and 'good, orderly direction' to enter.

Julia Cameron

Writing is like breathing, it's possible to learn to do it well, but the point is to do it no matter what.

Julia Cameron