SUFFERING CAN BE A LIFELONG PROJECT as well as a fruitful journey of self-discovery, and so creativity can indeed be the beautiful transponder that grows from each suffering experience.

My grandmother once told me, “All we are is what we have the courage to create, at any given moment.”

She said this as she mended a silk velvet coat, trailing underneath her feet in billows of shadows that spilled through her sun room. Even though my family has often seemed nearly tragic at times, what they have always been able to do is create intricate and authentic works of art in the process. This is what has saved us all, I believe, from going quite mad.

There are the larger-than-life oil paintings by my artist father, the handmade silk kimono-made fashions designed by my mother, and the beautifully strange and iconic independent films made by my sister, all of which inspire the creative mind and heart to wonder what could possibly be more important than the artist’s goal of simply making true art, in order to survive the present.

While researching creativity and courage for my new book, I came across the following quotes that may inspire you to think differently about how you approach your life, your supposed traumas, and how you can gain beauty, truth and wisdom by always thinking courageously as your most authentically creative self.

1) “Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength, while loving someone deeply gives you courage.” ~ Lao Tzu

2) “You may overcome many defeats, but you must not be defeated. Please remember that your difficulties do not define you. They simply strengthen your ability to overcome.” ~ Maya Angelou

3) “Art is not what you see, but what you make others see.” ~ Edgar Degas

4) “Sometimes you’ve got to let everything go — purge yourself. If you are unhappy with anything … whatever is bringing you down, get rid of it. Because you’ll find that when you’re free, your true creativity, your true self comes out.” ~ Tina Turner

5) “Everything you can imagine is real.” ~ Picasso

6) “Every man must decide whether he will walk in the light of creative altruism or in the darkness of destructive selfishness.” ~ Martin Luther King. Jr

7) “The best thing for being sad is to learn something. That is the only thing that never fails. You may grow old and trembling in your anatomies, you may lie awake at night listening to the disorder of your veins, you may miss your only love, you may see the world about you devastated by evil lunatics, or know your honor trampled in the sewers of baser minds. There is only one thing for it then — to learn. Learn why the world wags and what wags it. That is the only thing which the mind can never exhaust, never alienate, never be tortured by, never fear or distrust, and never dream of regretting.” ~ Theodore H. White

8) “Creativity is the ability to introduce order into the randomness of nature.” ~ Eric Hoffer

9) “Man cannot discover new oceans unless he has the courage to lose sight of the shore.” ~ Andre Gide

10) “A ship is safe in harbor, but that’s not what ships are for.” ~ William Shedd

11) “I have had all of the disadvantages required for success.” ~ Larry Ellison

12) “My invitation to you is to begin living every moment as though you are miraculous and deserve to live an extraordinary life. Fake it if you must and keep faking it until it’s real to you. The gift you will be giving yourself is a lifelong journey of discovery, one that is infinitely rewarding. Begin the journey. Today. This moment. Now.” ~ Robert White

13) “Millions of men have lived to fight, build palaces and boundaries, shape destinies and societies; but the compelling force of all times has been the force of originality and creation profoundly affecting the roots of the human spirit.” ~ Ansel Adams

14) “Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.” ~ Mahatma Ghandhi

15) “I shut my eyes in order to see.” ~ Paul Gauguin

16) “The tree which moves some to tears of joy is in the eyes of others only a green thing that stands in the way.” ~ William Blake

17) “It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again. Because there is not effort without error and shortcomings; but who does actually strive to do the deed; who knows the great enthusiasm, the great devotion, who spends himself in a worthy cause. Who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly. So that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.” ~ Theodore Roosevelt

18) “Art is the most intense mode of individualism that the world has ever known.” ~ Oscar Wilde

19) “But if you have nothing at all to create, then perhaps you create yourself.” ~ Carl Jung

20) “Creativity comes from trust. Trust your instincts. And never hope more than you work.” ~ Rita Mae Brown

21) “Imagination is the beginning of creation. You imagine what you desire, you will what you imagine and at last you create what you will.” ~ George Bernard Shaw

22) “You will never do anything in this world without courage. It is the greatest quality of the mind next to honor.” ~ Aristotle

23) “I’ve been absolutely terrified every moment of my life — and I’ve never let it keep me from doing a single thing I wanted to do.” ~ Georgia O’Keefe

24) “I find that there is nothing more truly artistic than to love people.” ~ Vincent Van Gogh

25) “Be the change you want to see in the world.” ~ Mahatma Gandhi

26) “I am enough of an artist to draw freely upon my imagination. Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world.” ~ Albert Einstein

27) “Do the thing that you fear and keep doing it … that is the quickest and surest way ever yet discovered to conquer fear.” ~ Dale Carnegie

28) “Human potential is the same for us all. Your feeling, ‘I am of no value,’ is wrong. Absolutely wrong. You are deceiving yourself. We all have the power of thought — so what are you lacking? If you have willpower, then you can change anything. It is usually said that you are your own master.” ~ Dalai Lama.

29) “Art is never finished, only abandoned.” ~ Leonardo da Vinci

30) “Courage is the most important of all the virtues, because without courage you can’t practice any other virtue constantly. You can practice any virtue erratically, but nothing consistently without courage.” ~ Maya Angelou

Francesca Biller is an award-winning investigative journalist, author and Edward R. Murrow recipient. She is writing two books to be published in 2015 for Zorba Press, a novel and a collection of short stories and poetry. She happily resides in Benicia with her two daughters, Rose and Jade.