Image: presto o tardi, avro come la sensazione che mi manchera la terra da sotto i piedi by lasandrala. Beautiful. Thanks for sharing.

"What moves those of genius, what inspires their work is not new ideas, but their obsession with the idea that what has already been said is still not enough." Eugene Delacroix

"I hope that I may always desire more than I can accomplish." Michelangelo

"Fear of failure always produces mediocrity because the chosen solution will always be the least risky and the most banal in most cases." Oliviero Toscani

Today's quotation from the legendary creative genius Oliviero Toscani liberated from his talk at the DLD conference (video posted here yesterday). Oliviero made an outstanding case for the precious value of creativity and talked about the creative process. From my notes (which are not exact) here are more of his thoughts...

Creativity is always subversive.

Creativity requires energy and courage.

Creativity is just a consequence, a result.

The human race is divided into two classes: people who are creative and people who are not. Watch out for people who come up and say "I got an idea." Very dangerous. Truly creative people are rare, they are a tiny minority.

We consider the present to be only what appears in our rear view mirror. We live in the past because the past is more secure, since we have already been there, and is also more comfortable.

To be creative is to have no security, to be totally insecure. The courage to be insecure, to take risks. Anyone who will not take risks cannot be creative.

The raw material of art is the artist. Good sense would tell us that they should be protected. Handled with the same care which the baker handles flour. This is something that is becoming more and more rare.

We must have the courage to risk being different.

Art is the highest expression of human communication.

Creativity is communication.

Today the creativity of communication is conditioned by an obsessive search for consensus, the false belief that consensus is success. This is a big mistake.

Level up: Can't wait to read the new Clay Shirky book. Clay is the goods, a bright and original thinker. Ships next month, get yours - Amazon pre-order info here.

Bonus: Sprout Builder. Smart, very smart, bravos! Sprout Blog.

Congrats & cheers: Rich Homberg takes the lead, new prexy at Detroit Public Television. Rich, one of the best and brightest in broadcasting, is a mensch and a gifted leader. Radio rising star Bill Klaproth promoted to WLUP program director.

French red: Zette 2003. "...a modern Malbec with lush fruit flavors, medium body and notes of spice." A good value at $10.