Photography Annie Leibovitz, courtesy of PirelliArt & PhotographyLightboxLife lessons from the world’s most influential writersPatti Smith, Sylvia Plath, William S Burroughs, and James Baldwin on their experiences with fame, self-doubt, and drugsShareLink copied ✔️March 19, 2018Art & PhotographyLightboxTextEline Van LanckerEvery Day a Word Surprises Me12 Imagesview more + Imagine sitting down with James Baldwin to gauge his thoughts on how best to live your life, and he says something like, “you have to go the way your blood beats. If you don’t live the only life you have, you won’t live some other life, you won’t live any life at all”. Or Ernest Hemmingway, who reassures you that “the first draft of anything is shit”. Even William S. Burroughs, who shares his (surprising) thoughts on opiates (“quite useless for any sort of creative work”). As an antidote to creative block, Phaidon has sought to collect 700 quotes in order to guide readers through the most existential questions about life and love, self-doubt, booze, and the everlasting haunt of rejection. Alongside Baldwin, Hemmingway and Burroughs is Virginia Woolf, Patti Smith, Malcolm X, Joan Didion, Susan Sontag, and Sylvia Plath. Other than outworn ‘inspirational quotes’ on websites like Goodreads or Brainyquote, the pocket-size guide mainly contains exclusive words extracted from little-known letters, memoirs and personal notebooks. Flick through a selection of our favourites above. Every Day a Word Surprises Me, published by Phaidon, is available here now Every Day a Word Surprises MeCourtesy of PhaidonExpand your creative community and connect with 15,000 creatives from around the world.READ MOREThe Renaissance meets sci-fi in Isaac Julien’s new cinematic installationMagnum and Aperture have just launched a youth-themed print saleArt Basel Paris: 7 emerging artists to have on your radarInside Tyler Mitchell’s new blockbuster exhibition in ParisAn insider’s portrait of life as a young male modelRay Ban MetaIn pictures: Jefferson Hack launches new exhibition with exclusive eventArt to see this week if you’re not going to Frieze 2025Here’s what not to miss at Frieze 2025Portraits of sex workers just before a ‘charged encounter’Captivating photos of queer glamour in 70s New YorkThis erotic photobook archives a decade of queer intimacyGuen Fiore’s tender portraits of girls in the flux of adolescence