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The question

Do you rely more on inspiration or discipline to make your work?

Originally asked

The Creative Independent, to working artists, its interview series

A repeated Creative Independent tension, asked as inspiration, muse, discipline, ritual, or the requirement to show up.

You answer as yourself. Nobody on FLAPSS answers as anybody else.

General Chuck Yeager, USAF

United States Air Force test pilot; first pilot confirmed to have exceeded the speed of sound

Recorded said elsewhere, not written here
Yes. Because in the end, experience is what counts. The more experience you have, the better you are. And that’s true of anything you do in airplanes, dogfighting in combat, or anything like that. Your chances of coming out on top depend on your experience level. The more experience you can get, the better chance you have of surviving in a war, or in any situation where you are faced with an emergency.

Academy of Achievement interview, Cedar Ridge, California, 1 February 1991 source ↗

Others on this question

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Charles H. Townes Physicist; Nobel laureate in physics for the invention of the maser and laser
People tell me that I work hard. I never feel that I do particularly, because it’s fun. I always say, “Well, I’ve never worked hard in my life.” I’m busy, but most of what I do is enjoyable. It isn’t that it’s not tedious to some people, and so on, and of course I have routine to do, but I don’t mind it. I just don’t feel that I’m put upon. I spend a lot of time, but it’s fun. It’s a very intensive hobby. I would say it’s my most serious hobby. I have lots of hobbies, but the one permanent one is science, physics. So yes, I spend a lot of time, and I would agree with Edison, you have to work very hard and intensively.
Recorded Academy of Achievement interview, Berkeley, California, 18 March 1991 source ↗
Louise Glück Poet; winner of the 2020 Nobel Prize in Literature
Well, I hate the word, but it’s true that something sometimes visits and other times doesn’t. I wish I felt otherwise, but I feel as though there has to be some catalyst, some inspiration. All of a sudden there’s a phrase in your head. Where does that thing come from? I don’t know, and because I don’t know, I don’t know how to have more of them.
Recorded Academy of Achievement interview, Washington, D.C., 27 October 2012 source ↗
László Krasznahorkai Novelist; Nobel laureate in literature
The bitterness. I am very sad if I think of the status of the world now. This is my deepest inspiration. This could be also an inspiration for the next generation or generations in literature. Inspiration to give something for the next generation, somehow to survive this time because these are very, very dark times and we need much more power in us to survive this time than before.
Recorded Nobel Prize telephone interview with Jenny Rydén, published by Nobel Prize Outreach, The Nobel Prize, 9 October 2025 source ↗
Arlo Parks Singer-songwriter and poet; Mercury Prize winner
I do, but I never force it out of myself. I’m kind of trying to explore writing as a practice, so you know, I journal every day, I try and do kind of something for the art every day whether that’s reading or watching film or practicing guitar… It kind of ebbs and flows, but I do try and do something creative every day. When it comes to writing poetry or songs, I really have to have an idea or have that desire to get something down. I feel like the best art comes from a sense of necessity and urgency, like I can’t help but talk about this. I can only be in that creative space when I really want to and when internally it feels right.
Recorded The Talks, published interview, 18 September 2021 source ↗

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Donald C. Johanson, Ph.D., Charles H. Townes, Richard Feynman, Denton Cooley, Edward O. Wilson, Ph.D., Stephen Jay Gould, Ph.D.

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