Source: Tuesdays with Morrie (1997)
Context: So many people walk around with a meaningless life. They seem half-asleep, even when they're busy doing things they think are important. This is because they're chasing the wrong things. The way you get meaning into your life is to devote yourself to loving others, devote yourself to your community around you, and devote yourself to creating something that gives you purpose and meaning.
“Create your own style… let it be unique for yourself and yet identifiable for others.”
“Life isn't about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself.”
Variant: Life isn't about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself.
“You must write for yourself, above all. That is your only hope of creating something beautiful.”
Writers at Work interview (1963)
Context: A cultivated style would be like a mask. Everybody knows it's a mask, and sooner or later you must show yourself — or at least, you show yourself as someone who could not afford to show himself, and so created something to hide behind... You do not create a style. You work, and develop yourself; your style is an emanation from your own being.
Pebble in the Sky, chapter 4 “The Royal Road”, p. 33
Pebble in the Sky (1950)
“But, if you have nothing at all to create, then perhaps you create yourself.”
“Force yourself to explain it and you create lies.”
Source: Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage
Source: Your Forces and How to Use Them (1912), Chapter 7, p. 115–116
Time Magazine (27 March 1964).
