73 Big Magic Quotes: Best Courage Tips For Creatives from Elizabeth Gilbert

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You’ve heard about Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert so much and wondering what’s so good about it, and what the best Big Magic quotes are? These are the ones that I found most helpful!

I’m a huge fan of good books.

When the book brings you inspiration, joy, and new knowledge — it’s the best kind.

But if on top of that it’s also helping you grow and become better? I’ll take two!

In this post, I’m sharing the most powerful lessons from this book that will encourage and inspire you on your creative journey like nothing else. Tested and true!

This post is all about Big Magic quotes — best courage tips for creatives from Elizabeth Gilbert.

Table of Contents

What’s so good about Big Magic
Big Magic quotes

What’s so good about Big Magic

Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert is one of my favorite books ever for creatives.

If you are an artist, a writer, a photographer, a sculptor, a designer, a musician, a stylist, an editor, an illustrator, a makeup artist, a dancer, a [insert your art], and you are seeking some tips on how to not be scared, not hesitate, develop as a creative, and, most importantly, ENJOY every second of your creativity, READ IT.

It is SO empowering. No summary, quote, or review won’t do justice (my Big Magic quotes list in this post is very worth checking out though 🙃).

As an overall anxious person, I tend to worry a lot especially when it comes to my art.

What helps me overcome this feeling better than anything else? Other creatives and their journeys.

And this book is one of its kind.

Elizabeth Gilbert is best known for her other book Eat Pray Love (which I’ve actually never read). I’m pretty sure you heard about this one before. It’s a memoir about Elizabeth’s self-discovery journey.

In Big Magic though, she’s talking about her journey as a creative — writer.

She’s telling about all the mindsets she’s had since childhood that eventually led her to become a bestselling author.

And it wasn’t a quick success. Her bestselling book was created after years of writing and thousands of rejection letters.

I just finished reading Big Magic, and every little lesson in it resonated so much with me that I once almost shed a tear.

And upon finishing it, I felt so relieved. And so powerful. And so free.

And I wish that for every creative because I know firsthand how challenging it might be sometimes.

This is my own list of Big Magic quotes with page numbers. For reference, I’m using a paperback copy of the book.

Big Magic quotes

(because in the end, creativity is a gift to the creator, not just a gift to the audience. p 72

I had never asked writing to be easy; I had only asked writing to be interesting. p 143

Be light with your art — Big Magic Quotes

Do what you love to do and do it with both seriousness and lightness.
(page 184)

When people talk about their creative work they often call it their baby which is the exact opposite of taking things lightly.
(page 232)

It was just a thing — a thing that I made and loved, and then changed, and then remade, and still loved, and then published, and then put aside so that I could go on to make other things.
(page 235)

What you produce is not necessarily always sacred, I realized, just because you think it’s sacred. What is sacred is the time that you spend working on the project, and what that time does to expand your imagination, and what that expanded imagination does to transform your life.
(page 232)

My creative expression must be the most important thing in the world to me (if I am to live artistically), and I also must not matter at all (if I am to live sanely).
(page 135)

As I write this book, for instance, I approach each sentence as if the future of humanity depends upon my getting that sentence just right. … But as I edit my sentence — sometimes immediately after writing it — I have to be willing to through it to the dogs and never look back.
(page 135)

Deal with your fear and self-doubt — Big Magic Quotes

Creative living is a path for the brave. When courage dies, creativity dies with it.
(page 13)

Trust me, your fear will always show up — especially when you’re trying to be inventive or innovative.
(page 23)

Creativity cannot take a single step forward without fear marching right alongside it.
(page 24)

All the good ideas feel daunting at first.
(page 42)

So how do we deal with fear? Elizabeth Gilbert encourages us to… make space for your fear and take it with you.

Why? Because it will travel with you everywhere you go anyway. Might as well travel in peace, right?

Talk to your fear. Make an agreement with it that it’s allowed to join you on this trip, but it’s always going to be in a passenger’s seat. Never in a driver’s.

“Dearest Fear: (…) There’s plenty of room in this vehicle for all of us, so make yourself at home, but understand this: Creativity and I are the only ones who will be making any decisions along the way.“
(page 25)

Become a disciplined half-ass — Big Magic Quotes

Whether you think you’re brilliant or you think you’re a loser, just make whatever you need to make and toss it out there.
(page 120)

Too many women still seem to believe that they are not allowed to put themselves forward at all, until both they and their work are perfect and beyond criticism.
(page 168)

No matter how many hours you spent attempting to render something flawless somebody will always be able to find fault with it.
(page 169)

The only reason I was able to persist in completing my first novel was that I allowed it to be stupendously imperfect. I pushed myself to continue writing it, even though I strongly disapproved of what I was producing. That book was so far from perfect it made me nuts.
(page 175)

I never promised the universe that I would be a great writer goddamn it! I just promised the universe that I would be a writer!
(page 176)

A good-enough novel violently written now is better than a perfect novel meticulously written never.
(page 177)

You must learn how to become a deeply disciplined half-ass.
(page 166)

If you tend to struggle with perfectionism, this tip is your best friend.

(It is mine.)

Keep showing up no matter what — Big Magic Quotes

You can measure your worth by your dedication to your path, not by your successes or failures.
(page 41)

Most of my writing life consists of nothing more than unglamorous, disciplined labor. I sit at my desk and I work like a farmer, and that’s how it gets done.
(page 66)

I kept not getting published, but it was okay, because I was getting educated.
(page 146)

The most important benefit of my years of disciplined, solitary work was that I began to recognize the emotional pattern of creativity — or, rather, I began to recognize my patterns. I could see that there were psychological cycles to my own creative process, and that those cycles were always pretty much the same.
(page 146)

I worked for years with stubborn gladness before I was published.
(page 21)

Whatever it is you’re pursuing, whatever it is you’re seeking, whatever it is you’re creating, be careful not to quit too soon.
(page 247)

Don’t let go of your courage the moment things stop being easy or rewarding.
(page 247)

I believe that this tip is the MOST important.

They say that if you spend 10 years working on your craft, whatever it is, you become an expert.

Just keep showing up.

Successful people are those who stick around long enough.

Be grateful for your gift — Big Magic Quotes

Sometimes I grope around in the dark, desperately looking for magic creative stimulus, and all I come up with is something that feels like a damp washcloth. And then suddenly — whoosh! — inspiration arrives, out of the clear blue sky. And then — whoosh! — it is gone again.
(page 73)

I work either way, you see — assisted or unassisted — because that is what you must do in order to live a fully creative life. I work steadily, and I always thank the process. Whether I am touched by grace or not, I thank creativity for allowing me to engage with it at all.
(page 75)

All I know for certain is that this is how I want to spend my life — collaborating to the best of my ability with forces of inspiration that I can neither see, nor proves, nor command, nor understand.
(page 78)

One of the best ways to practice gratitude is journaling.

I write down three things I’m grateful for every night in my journal, and it just gives me an opportunity to see how many things there are in my life that bring me joy.

If you want to try journaling, these are my favorite journaling prompts and a self-love journaling challenge that will help you significantly improve your relationship with yourself.

Allow yourself to choose your own path — Big Magic Quotes

Creative entitlement simply means believing that you are allowed to be here, and that — merely by being here — you are allowed to have a voice and a vision of your own.
(page 92)

Often what keeps you from creative living is your self-absorption (your self-doubt, your self-disgust, your self-judgment, your crushing sense of self-protection).
(page 93)

Defending yourself as a creative person begins by defining yourself. It begins when you declare your talent. Stand up tall and say it aloud, whatever it is:

I’m a writer.

I’m a singer.

I’m an actor.
(page 94)

Does this remind you of anything?..

Yes, this works the same way as affirmations. If you want to learn more about this topic, click here to check out my post about affirmations for self-love and get a free printable.

The next quote is the only quote I personally have printed and hung above my desk:

I’ve had to keep defining and defending myself as a writer every single day of my adult life — constantly reminding and re-reminding my soul and the cosmos that I’m very serious about the business of creative living, and that I will never stop creating, no matter what the outcome, and no matter how deep my anxieties and insecurities may be.
(page 95)

Don’t be original, be authentic — Big Magic Quotes

Attempts at originality can often feel forced and precious, but authenticity has quiet resonance that never fails to stir me.
(page 98)

If it’s authentic enough, believe me — it will feel original.
(page 98)

But you must stubbornly walk into that room, regardless, and you must hold your head high. You made it; you get to put it out there. Never apologize for it, never explain it away, never be ashamed of it.
(page 263)

Make art that brings you joy, and do it for yourself, not others — Big Magic Quotes

I mean, it is very kind of you to want to help people, but please don’t make it your sole motive, because we will feel the weight of your heavy intention, and it will put a strain upon our souls.
(page 98)

Big Magic is obviously a self-help guide, right? But will all due respect and affection, I did not write this book for you, I wrote it for me. I wrote this book for my own pleasure, because I truly enjoy thinking about the subject of creativity.
(page 100)

Do whatever brings you to life, then. Follow your own fascinations, obsessions, and compulsions. Trust them. Create whatever causes a revolution in your heart. The rest will take care of itself.
(page 101)

You don’t need a diploma to be a creative — Big Magic Quotes

I am not convinced that we need officially credentialed novelists.
(page 102)

If you’re working on your craft every day on your own, with steady discipline and love, then you are already for real as a creator, and you don’t need to pay anybody to affirm that for you.
(page 103)

No living writer has ever taught me more about plotting and characterization than Charles Dickens has taught me — and needless to say, I never met with him during office hours to discuss it.
(page 109)

Choose how you react to rejections right — Big Magic Quotes

My intention was to spend my entire life in communion with writing, period. (…) That being the case, editors could reject me all they wanted; I wasn’t going anywhere.
(page 112)

There are people who haven’t even been born yet who are gonna reject me someday — that’s how long I plan to stick around.
(page 112)

In my youth I’d been known to run around crowing to my friends, “I just got the most amazing rejection note!”
(page 191)

I used to struggle with this A LOT.

Now I just accept that I cannot always be what the other person needs at the moment.

Just like I don’t need every single project that comes my way.

Sometimes though, when I’m under a lot of pressure, I feel discouraged.

In those moments, I try to remind myself that this too shall pass.

This is my post on how to deal with negative emotions when nothing is going right, in case you are at that stage right now and need some encouragement or advice.

Choose your “shit sandwich” — Big Magic Quotes

Every single pursuit — no matter how wonderful and exciting and glamorous it may initially seem — comes with its own brand of shit sandwich, its own lousy side effects.
(page 150)

If you want to be an artist of any sort, it seemed to me, then handling your frustration is a fundamental aspect of the work — perhaps the single most fundamental aspect of the work.
(page 149)

Holding yourself together through all the phases of creation is where the real work lies.
(page 149)

So the question is not so much “What are you passionate about?” The question is “What are you passionate enough about that you can endure the most disagreeable aspects of the work?
(page 150)

Stop whining and suffering — Big Magic Quotes

Steal a camera if you must, but stop whining and get back to work.
(page 116)

Every time you express a complaint about difficult and tiresome it is to be creative, inspiration takes another step from you, offended.
(page 117)

So try saying this: “I enjoy my creativity”.
(page 118)

Be the weirdo who dares to enjoy.
(page 119)

I do not deny the reality of suffering — not yours, not mine, not humanity’s in general. It is simply that I refuse to fetishize it.
(page 212)

I have come to understand what part of me is suffering when I fail: It’s just my ego.
(page 248)

Your ego is a wonderful servant, but it’s a terrible master — because the only thing your ego ever wants is reward, reward, and more reward.
(page 249)

(There is nothing worse than someone complaining constantly about their creative work. Like excuse me what?)

REATED POST: Here’s Exactly What To Do When You Are Feeling Uneasy

People’s judgments about you are non of your business — Big Magic Quotes

Never delude yourself into believing that you require someone else’s blessing in order to make your own creative work. And always remember that people’s judgments about you are non of your business.
(page 121)

I refuse to take on additional jobs, such as trying to police what anybody thinks about my work once leaves my desk.
(page 123)

If I am allowed to speak my inner truth then my critics are allowed to speak their inner truths, as well.
(page 124)

I believe it takes forever to embrace this idea fully. I am still on my way there.

What helps a lot with focusing on myself and not paying attention to other people’s opinions is practicing self-love and improving my self-talk.

Have a day job

Over the years, I have watched so many other people murder their creativity by demanding that their art pay the bills.
(page 153)

To claim that you are too creative to think about financial questions is to infantilize yourself — and I beg you not to infantilize yourself because it’s demeaning to your soul.
(page 153)

I maintained alternative streams of income so that, when my inspiration wasn’t flowing, I could say to it reassuringly, “No worries, mate. Just take your time. I’m here whenever you’re ready.
(page 155)

Have an affair with your creative self

Stop treating your creativity like it’s a tired, old, unhappy marriage and start recording it with the fresh eyes of a passionate lover.
(page 161)

Sneak off and have an affair with your most creative self. (…) Lie to everyone about where you were actually going on your lunch break.
(page 161)

Don’t think of it all as burdensome; think of it all as sexy.
(page 161)

Also, try to present yourself to your creativity as if you are sexy — as if you are somebody worth spending time with.
(page 162)

Dress for the novel you want to write.
(page 164)

I love this one 😏

I love dressing up for work even if I’m not going anywhere because the sexier you feel, the more confident you feel, the easier it is to get work done. It might be a part of the whole “fake it till you make it” approach.

I don’t know how it works but it just DOES.

If you can’t do what you long to do, go do something else

Give your mind a job to do, or else it will find a job to do, and you might not like the job it invents.
(page 171)

It has taken me years to learn this, but it does seem to be the case that if I am not actively creating something, then I’m probably actively destroying something (myself, a relationship, or my own peace of mind).
(page 171)

Find something to do — anything, even a different sort of greater work altogether — just to take your mind off your anxiety and pressure.
(page 253)

You might think it’s procrastination, but — with the right intention — it isn’t; it’s motion. And any emotion whatsoever beats inertia, because inspiration will always be drawn to motion.
(page 254)

I used to think that spending my leisure time drawing or making collages is a waste of time.

My thinking process was: I’m not studying fashion history, I’m not doing writing courses, I am not practicing any of my crafts… What am I doing then? Why am I wasting time?

I grew to learn that during the times when I feel the need to step away from my own craft, it’s a good idea to keep myself busy with any creative activity at all.

And during that time I’m healing, decompressing, recharging WHILE keeping my creative channels open.

Curiosity is key

If you don’t have a clear passion and somebody blithely tells you to go follow your passion, I think you have the right to give that person the middle finger.
(page 236)

As time ticked by and an impassioned idea still had not ignited me, I didn’t panic. Instead, I did what I have done so many times before: I turned my attention away from passion and toward curiosity. I ask myself, Is there anything you were interested in right now, Liz?
(page 240)

The creators who most inspire me, then, are not necessarily the most passionate, but the most curious. scri
(page 245)