YOUR DAILY INSIGHT // As Told By: Arthur C. Clarke

Take note:

If you were the author of something like 2001: A Space Odyssey--as Mr. Arthur C. Clarke here was--then we'll allow you to boil down idea actualization into something as simple as this:

New ideas pass through three periods: 

1. It can't be done.

2. It probably can be done, but it's not worth doing.

3. I knew it was a good idea all along.

YOUR DAILY INSIGHT // As Told By: Soren Kierkegaard

In which 19th century philosopher and theologian Soren Kierkegaard spends six words inadvertently predicting (and acutely paraphrasing) the bittersweet nature of the freelancing lifestyle:

Anxiety is the dizziness of freedom.

YOUR DAILY INSIGHT // As Told By: Daniel Lopatin

Brooklyn native Daniel Lopatin is nothing short of prolific.

Some know him as exprimental drone artist Oneohtrix Point Never. Others recognize him as one half of electronic funk duo Ford & Lopatin. Throw in overseer of outsider label Software and frequent collaborator with Antony & The Johnsons, Lopatin's one of the busiest artists in the borough.

Today we heed his Daily Insight--and though he may be referencing musicians specifically, we stand by him in his belief that recognition is not a four-letter word:

For so many people, it's very hard to feel okay with success, because success is not cool. It supposedly tarnishes your thing; it ruins little pockets of scenes and the self-importance that comes from thinking you're the only people in your town that are doing something. That's what stops a lot of really talented people from sharing their music and turning it into a career.

YOUR DAILY INSIGHT // As Told By: James Ogilvy

Ok, sure, James Ogilvy descended from something of a royal family--it doesn't mean we don't agree with him on today's Daily Insight:

Too much of our work amounts to the drudgery of arranging means toward ends, mechanically placing the right foot in front of the left and the left in front of the right, moving down narrow corridors toward narrow goals.

Play widens the halls. Work will always be with us, and many works are worthy. But the worthiest works of all often reflect an artful creativity that looks more like play than work.

YOUR DAILY INSIGHT // As Told By: Emmet Fox

No, we're not touting Emmet Fox's legacy as a leader of organized religion. Yes, we are touting this essential insight of his that we feel you should carry around with you at all times:

Criticism is an indirect form of self-boasting.

YOUR DAILY INSIGHT // As Told By: Pablo Picasso

After a couple go-rounds on this brainbender, we actually feel like it makes sense.

Today's Daily Insight, courtesy of someone you've probably never heard of--Pablo Picasso:

We all know that Art is not truth. Art is a lie that makes us realize truth--at least the truth that is given us to understand.  The artist must know the manner whereby to convince others of the truthfulness of his lies.

YOUR DAILY INSIGHT // As Told By: David Lynch

Photo Credit: Nadav Kander

How has David Lynch, the master of the absurd and the champion of all things creative (did you know he has an album coming out this fall?) not yet appeared on Your Daily Insight?

All of that changes right now:

I have to make what I see, whether it's a painting, a table, or a movie--or it's like a death. And what would be the point of that?

YOUR DAILY INSIGHT // As Told By: Ernst Levy

Let's end the week on one from Swiss composer/pianist, Ernst Levy:

Man will begin to recover the moment he takes art as seriously as physics, chemistry or money.

YOUR DAILY INSIGHT // As Told By: Michael Gerber

Again, we turn to someone that counts "motivational speaker" as one of their vocations. Another one of Michael Gerber's vocations? Being a gazillion-copy-selling author of books on being a successful entrerpreneur.

So take note:

The entrepreneur in us sees opportunities everywhere we look, but many people see only problems everywhere they look. The entrepreneur in us is more concerned with discriminating between opportunities than he or she is with failing to see the opportunities.

YOUR DAILY INSIGHT // As Told By: Willa Cather

Today, we head back to 1915, a time when Pulitizer Prize-winning author Willa Cather schools us with our Daily Insight:

Artistic growth is, more than it is anything else, a refining of the sense of truthfulness.  The stupid believe that to be truthful is easy; only the artist, the great artist, knows how difficult it is.