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About this quote

What does it mean?
Stein notes Picasso valued external influence over self-repetition, prioritizing novelty over ego.
In plain terms
Artists should seek new influences rather than just copying themselves.
What can you take from it?
Seek fresh influences to avoid stagnation.

Where it applies

  • artistic development
  • learning
  • career growth

Putting it to work

  • Study others
  • Avoid complacency
  • Explore new styles

Questions to consider

  • Who influences your work?
  • Are you repeating yourself?

Another view

It undervalues mastering one's own style.

More from Gertrude Stein

  1. When you are writing before there is an audience anything written is as important as any other thing and you cherish anything and everything that you have writ…

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  2. Nothing could bother me more than the way a thing goes dead once it has been said.

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  3. The difference between a thinker and a newspaperman is that a thinker enters right into things, a newspaperman is superficial.

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