Every once in a while — often when we least expect it — we encounter someone more courageous, someone who choose to strive for that which (to us) seemed unrealistically unattainable, even elusive. And we marvel. We swoon. We gape. Often , we are in awe. I think we look at these people as lucky, when in fact, luck has nothing to do with it. It is really about the strength of their imagination; it is about how they constructed the possibilities for their Life. In short, unlike me, they didn’t determine what was impossible before it was even possible.

Fail Safe – Debbie Millman’s fantastic illustrated essay of timeless advice on courage and the creative life.

Only the best thing ever: Advice to Little Girls – a playful and mischievous short story penned by young Mark Twain in 1865, encouraging girls to think independently rather than obey social mores, newly illustrated by beloved Russian children’s book artist Vladimir Radunsky.

No female reporter before her had ever seemed quite so audacious, so willing to risk personal safety in pursuit of a story. 

How to pack like Nellie Bly, pioneering Victorian journalist who raced around the world in 80 days.

UPDATE: By popular demand, the illustrated packing list is now available as a print.

For Anaïs Nin’s 110th birthday today, one of her most poignant insights on love, illustrated by Debbie Millman.

Available as a print, with 100% of proceeds benefiting a foundation supporting women writers and artists. 

Anaïs Nin on love, hand-lettered by Debbie Millman – hardly gets better than this. Available as a limited-edition print benefiting A Room of Her Own, a foundation supporting women artists and writers. 

Art is a form of nourishment (of consciousness, the spirit)

Susan Sontag on art, in illustrated diary excerpts, also available as a limited-edition print benefiting A Room of Her Own, a foundation supporting women artists and writers. 

How long different animals live, in vintage ISOTYPE infographic. Austrian sociologist, philosopher, and curator Otto Neurath, who was born 130 years ago today, and his wife Marie pioneered the International System Of TYpographic Picture Education in the 1930s, laying the foundation for modern infographics. 

More timeless truth from Anaïs Nin

A hand-lettered list of advice on breaking through your creative block from artist and writer Debbie Millman.

“You live out the confusions until they become clear.” Timeless truths from Anaïs Nin, hand-lettered by artist Lisa Congdon (previously)

The first of Etgar Keret’s ten rules for writers echoes Ray Bradbury’s insistence on writing with joy. For more timeless advice on writing, see writing rules by:

Neil Gaiman

Zadie Smith

Kurt Vonnegut

John Steinbeck

David Ogilvy

Henry Miller

Jack Kerouack

Susan Sontag

10 Rules for Students and Teachers (and Life) by John Cage and Sister Corita Kent

Gold. Susan Sontag’s most poignant meditations on love, in diary excerpts hand-lettered and illustrated by artist Wendy MacNaughton.

UPDATE: Now available as a limited-edition large-scale giclee print on heavy cotton-rag paper.

Maira Kalman — the remarkable artist, prolific author, and unmatched storyteller — shares some wisdom on identity, happiness, and existence.

In a 1933 letter to his 11-year-old daughter Scottie, F. Scott Fitzgerald produced this poignant and wise list of things to worry, not worry, and think about – the best father’s advice since John Steinbeck’s letter to his son on falling in love and this beautiful letter to 16-year-old Jackson Pollock by his dad.

From F. Scott Fitzgerald: A Life in Letters.