People always say that I didn’t give up my seat because I was tired, but that isn’t true. I was not tired physically, or no more tired than I usually was at the end of a working day. I was not old, although some people have an image of me as being old then. I was forty-two. No, the only tired I was, was tired of giving in.
— civil rights activist Rosa Parks, born 100 years ago today
When I am in my painting, I am not aware of what I’m doing. It is only after a short “get acquainted” period that I see what I have been about. I have no fears about making changes, destroying the image, etc., because the painting has a life of its own. I try to let it come through. It is only when I lose contact with the painting that the result is a mess. Otherwise there is pure harmony, an easy give and take, and the painting comes out well.
— American painter Jackson Pollock, born today in 1912
This generation of Americans has been tested by crises that steeled our resolve and proved our resilience. A decade of war is now ending. An economic recovery has begun. America’s possibilities are limitless, for we possess all the qualities that this world without boundaries demands: youth and drive; diversity and openness; an endless capacity for risk and a gift for reinvention. My fellow Americans, we are made for this moment, and we will seize it — so long as we seize it together.
— President Barack Obama, January 21, 2013
The hope of a secure and livable world lies with disciplined nonconformists, who are dedicated to justice, peace, and brotherhood. The trailblazers in human, academic, scientific, and religious freedom have always been nonconformists. In any cause that concerns the progress of mankind, put your faith in the nonconformist! (1963)
Let us rise up tonight with a greater readiness. Let us stand with a greater determination. And let us move on in these powerful days, these days of challenge to make America what it ought to be. We have an opportunity to make America a better nation. (1968)
— Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
It is important to express oneself … provided the feelings are real and are taken from your own experience.
My ambition is limited to capturing something transient.
— Impressionist painter Berthe Morisot, born today in 1841
Once you wake up thought in a man, you can never put it to sleep again.
There are years that ask questions and years that answer.
— American author Zora Neale Hurston, born today in 1891
The more you write, the more possibilities you see for stories in things that happen to you, that people tell you, that you read about in the paper, or just imagine. In one way, all of these ideas are a blessing. I never have to go searching for something to write about.
[…] The absolutely most favorite thing is the moment a character comes alive for me on paper, or where a place I am writing about suddenly seems real. There are no bands playing, no audience applauding. It’s a very solitary moment, but something akin to giving birth. “I’ve got it!” I say to myself, and from then on, the writing’s a joy.
— Newbery Medal-winner Phyllis Reynolds Naylor, born today in 1933
Color possesses me. I don’t have to pursue it. It will possess me always, I know it. That is the meaning of this happy hour: Color and I are one. I am a painter.
The painter should not paint what he sees, but what will be seen.
I paint in order not to cry.
— German and Swiss artist Paul Klee, born today in 1879
I never am really satisfied that I understand anything; because, understand it well as I may, my comprehension can only be an infinitesimal fraction of all I want to understand about the many connections and relations which occur to me.”
— English mathematician Augusta Ada King, Countess of Lovelace, born today in 1815
“A name is the first and final marker of individual rights, one fixed part of the ever-changing human world. A name is the most basic characteristic of our human rights: no matter how poor or how rich, all living people have a name, and it is endowed with good wishes, the expectant blessings of kindness and virtue.
— Ai Weiwei
Thank you to all those who came to celebrate with us yesterday — and congratulations and welcome to the new Catalogue honorees!