Amateur Quotes

“Usually the amateur is defined as an immature state of the artist: someone who cannot — or will not — achieve the mastery of a profession. But in the field of photographic practice, it is the amateur, on the contrary, who is the assumption of the professional: for it is he who stands closer to the (i)noeme(i) of Photography.”
― Roland Barthes, Camera Lucida: Reflections on Photography

“A professional is a man who can do his job when he doesn't feel like it; an amateur is one who can't when he does feel like it. ”
― James Agate

“Every expert began as an amateur.”
― Jeffrey Fry

“AMATEUR, n. A public nuisance who mistakes taste for skill, and confounds his ambition with his ability.”
― Ambrose Bierce, The Unabridged Devil's Dictionary

“I had zero idea of what I was doing.. I honestly had no idea where to start. All I knew was I had something I craved to say.. I wanted to create art that lived on longer than I do. Perseverance and teaching yourself, every day through stress and hard work proves shit really does progress without you realizing. One minute you're an amateur, knowing nothing, not even the basics. The next you can put pen to paper, write a song, and create art in such little time! It's crazy beautiful.”
― Scott McGoldrick

“Unsettling are the days in which everyone is an expert.”
― Criss Jami, Healology

“The study of Scripture I find to be quite like mastering an instrument. No one is so good that they cannot get any better; no one knows so much that they can know no more. A professional can spot an amateur or a lack of practice or experience a mile away. His technicality, his spiritual ear is razor-sharp. He is familiar with the common mistakes, the counter-arguments; and insofar as this, he can clearly distinguish the difference between honest critics of the Faith and mere fools who criticize that which they know nothing.”
― Criss Jami, Healology

“Growing up doesn't mean that you are older than someone, it means that you are no longer an amateur.”
― Michael Bassey Johnson

“Discipline is for professionals.
Motivation is for amateurs.”
― J.R. Rim

“Beginner knows rules, but veterans know exceptions.”
― Amit Kalantri, Wealth of Words

“A mentor is a person, an expert in a specific area of endeavour who trains, guides and observes a less experienced person to also become an expert through support, advice, and involvement in character building opportunities.”
― Israelmore Ayivor, Michelangelo | Beethoven | Shakespeare: 15 Things Common to Great Achievers

“Sometime look at a novice workman or a bad workman and compare his expression with that of a craftsman whose work you know is excellent and you’ll see the difference. The craftsman isn’t ever following a single line of instruction. He’s making decisions as he goes along. For that reason he’ll be absorbed and attentive to what he’s doing even though he doesn’t deliberately contrive this. His motions and the machine are in a kind of harmony. He isn’t following any set of written instructions because the nature of the material at hand determines his thoughts and motions, which simultaneously change the nature of the material at hand. The material and his thoughts are changing together in a progression of changes until his mind’s at rest at the same time the material’s right.”
― Robert M. Pirsig, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry Into Values

“Coincidence has nothing to do with faith or destiny , it's just a miss matched eqation of timing and spacing ... just like a butterfly effect”
― Omar Mezzat

“Nobody was born a master; amateurs become experts because they did not give up on learning. You are going as far as you can if you’ll learn and apply!”
― Israelmore Ayivor, Daily Drive 365

“Ideas are not in textbooks and journals, Ideas are more deeper than the shallow written works of men. You are the idea that comes like an idea.”
― Michael Bassey Johnson, The Book of Maxims, Poems and Anecdotes

“[On identifying talented programmers] It’s just enthusiasm. You ask them what’s the most interesting program they worked on. And then you get them to describe it and its algorithms and what’s going on. If they can’t withstand my questioning on their program, then they’re not good. I’m asking them to describe something they’ve done that they’ve spent blood on. I’ve never met anybody who really did spend blood on something who wasn’t eager to describe what they’ve done and how they did it and why. I let them pick the subject. I don’t pick the subject, so I’m the amateur and they’re the professional in this subject. If they can’t stand an amateur asking them questions about their profession, then they don’t belong. - Ken Thompson”
― Peter Seibel, Coders at Work: Reflections on the Craft of Programming

“The "deliberate amateur"... "A paradox of innovation and mastery is that breakthroughs often occur when you start down a road, but wander off for a ways and pretend as if you have just begun," ...Be careful not to be too careful, or you will unconsciously limit your exploration.”
― David Epstein, Range: How Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World / Messy / The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People

“Today’s amateurs are tomorrow’s champions.”
― Matshona Dhliwayo

“Second-guessing a decision made by a programming-language designer is the first step on the road to becoming one.”
― Robert Sedgewick, Kevin Wayne

“Modern corporate controlled governments are making Adolf Hitler look like an amateur.”
― Steven Magee

“An amateur should be more willing to be impressed by the professional than eager to impress the professional.”
― Amit Kalantri, Wealth of Words

“The amateur avoids discomfort. The pro leans in.”
― Maxime Lagacé

“We are all amateurs. We don't have enough time to be anything else.”
― Charlie Chaplin

“Waste my time and we will have a problem.”
― Steven Magee

“Our modern perception of "amateur" suggests someone who does something poorly or with a lack of professionalism, but the Latin root of the word "amateur" is amor, someone who pursues a pastime out of love. Bobby embraced his amateurism as more than a label; it defined him as thoroughly as "professional" described Hagen. Fate had not tapped on Jones only to send him out on the road nine months a year with a bunch of scruffy nomads chasing penny-ante purses in half-assed tournaments. He wanted a life centered in Atlanta as part of a community, a solid wage earner supporting his wife and children and family.”
― Mark Frost, The Grand Slam: Bobby Jones, America, and the Story of Golf

“A gulf was opening. Unless you were a professional, you were a mere dilettante or an "amateur." And what did this loaded word originally signify? "To love," derived from the French aimer. With the increasing specialization of knowledge and professionalization of everyday life, suddenly being delighted by something, or loving something, was seen as vaguely disreputable.”
― Tom Vanderbilt, Beginners: The Joy and Transformative Power of Lifelong Learning

“he put a veil over his wrongdoings
that’s what he did

it was tenderness and lust
that’s what it was
that’s what it looked like
it should have been
It should have been...

but

somewhere between the candied kisses and
frigid disputes,
came dead air
and their love turned fictitious;
misrepresented by Facebook posts
and “cheerful” photographs

his palms became like ice,
his words like hail

and he tore off the very mask
that had fooled her

But it was too late
her body laid charred;
tattered, weary and drawn
her soul had vanquished
the light was gone”
― Alexis Bedard, The Stranger's Veil

“Phil walked along beside the belt, reaching the top well before me. After he pointed to where I was supposed to go, I pushed myself off the belt and fell flat on my face. I could hear the little kids behind me giggling as our instructor helped me upright.”
― Ashleigh Stevens, Elephant on my Chest

“A woman about my mother's age touched my shoulder. "Anything broken, sweetie?"

I looked around. "I'm not sure. Where are my poles?"

Pug laughed. "She meant you, Pickles. Did you break any bones?”
― Ashleigh Stevens, Elephant on my Chest

“Every skilled baker was first an amateur. - Chris Geiger”
― Chris Geiger