Source: A Thousand Mornings
“Learn the rules, break the rules, make up new rules, break the new rules.”
Marvin Bell (1937) Poet
"Thirty-two Statements About Writing Poetry" http://www.coppercanyonpress.org/400_opportunities/430_gettingpub/bell.cfm, statement # 5, The Writer's Chronicle, Commemorative Issue (Copper Canyon Press, 2002).
“The rules!" shouted Ralph, "you're breaking the rules!"
"Who cares?”
William Golding book Lord of the Flies
Source: Lord of the Flies (1954), Ch. 5: Beast from Water
Context: "The rules!" shouted Ralph, "you're breaking the rules!"
"Who cares?"
Ralph summoned his wits.
"Because the rules are the only thing we've got!"
But Jack was shouting against him.
"Bollocks to the rules! We're strong — we hunt! If there's a beast, we'll hunt it down! We'll close in and beat and beat and beat —!"
Oscar Niemeyer (1907–2012) Brazilian architect
Quoted in "Why Oscar Niemeyer is king of curves," Tom Dyckhoff, The Times Online (London, 2007-12-12).
Agathon (-448–-401 BC) Athenian tragic poet
Stobaeus, Florilegium, XL, VI, 24, as reported in Harbottle's Dictionary of Quotations (1897), p. 515.
“Learn all the rules… then break them.”
Lea DeLaria (1958) American actress and singer
Lea's Book of Rules for the World (May 2000) Rule # 10
“Learn the rules like a pro, so you can break them like an artist.”
Pablo Picasso (1881–1973) Spanish painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist, and stage designer
“By all means break the rules, and break them beautifully, deliberately and well.”
Robert Bringhurst The Elements of Typographic Style
Source: The Elements of Typographic Style
