--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: He was the most astonishing contradiction…" description: "\"“He was the most astonishing contradiction of components I’d ever encountered. Shy yet fiercely communicative when putting an idea into your head. Voca..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f46/chip-kidd-15285_art_he-was-the-most-astonishing-contradictio_577446.jpg" --- # He was the most astonishing contradiction of components… ![“He was the most astonishing contradiction of components I’d ever encountered. Shy yet fiercely communicative when putting an idea into your head. Vocally astringent regarding his own abilities but not to the point that he couldn’t produce—he was as prolific an artist (yes, an artist, and I never…” quote by Chip Kidd](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f46/chip-kidd-15285_art_he-was-the-most-astonishing-contradictio_577446.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f46/chip-kidd-15285_art_he-was-the-most-astonishing-contradictio_577446.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f46/chip-kidd-15285_art_he-was-the-most-astonishing-contradictio_577446.jpg) > ““He was the most astonishing contradiction of components I’d ever encountered. Shy yet fiercely communicative when putting an idea into your head. Vocally astringent regarding his own abilities but not to the point that he couldn’t produce—he was as prolific an artist (yes, an artist, and I never use the term, especially regarding people I like) I’ve ever seen. But I could feel it. Everything he sketched, penciled, inked, made—was a payment, one he could scarcely afford; as if it physically hurt him to put pencil to paper. Yet that only seemed to spur him on, to live far beyond his means. He was unable not to. For Sketch, to draw was to breath, and so the air became lead—silvery in the right light, dark soot in the wrong; heavy, slick and malleable—into shapes he brought together in glorious orchestration, with a child’s eye and a rocket scientist’s precision, all fortified by a furious melancholy, a quiet engine of sourceless shame and humility. When it came to another’s work, he longed to praise it but then couldn’t resist critiquing it all within an inch of its life, analyzing deficiencies with uncontrollable abandon and laser accuracy. He was sharp as his Radio 914 pen nibs, and as pointed. And then he’d apologize. Oh, he would apologize: Oh my GOD, forgive me, please don’t hate me, I’m SORRY, don’t listen to me, why am I saying things, what do I know, I don’t know anything, why do you listen to me you should just tell me to shut UP, I’m awful, forgive me, you hate me, don’t you? Tell the truth. Please don’t hate me. Please don’t. Please.”” [Chip Kidd](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chip-kidd/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. The passage describes a paradoxical artist who is both shy and outspoken, driven by an intense, painful compulsion to create, mixing humility with fierce self‑critique and a constant need for approval. **In simple terms:** An artist torn between self‑doubt and relentless creation, seeking validation while fearing rejection. Key Takeaway Embrace your creative drive, but balance it with self‑compassion. Themes creativity self‑criticism humility perfectionism validation Mood anxious reflective determined Type personal psychological inspirational When to use this quote - working on personal art projects - receiving feedback - managing imposter syndrome - collaborating with peers - presenting work publicly Key Concepts artistic temperament psychology of creativity inner conflict Questions to Reflect On - How does your need for approval affect your creative output? - What strategies can you use to temper self‑critique? A Different Perspective The intense self‑criticism may paralyze productivity and damage mental health. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Art](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/art/) [Artists](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/artists/) [Contradiction](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/contradiction/) ## Related quotes > [In the Golden Age of Batman, I penciled, inked, and lettered my strip by myself.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bob-kane/in-the-golden-age-of-batman-i-penciled-inked-and-lettered-my-strip-by/) [Bob Kane](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bob-kane/) > [I was sickly as a child and gravitated to books and drawing. During my early teen years, I spent hundreds of hours at my…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/maurice-sendak/i-was-sickly-as-a-child-and-gravitated-to-books-and-drawing-during-my/) [Maurice Sendak](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/maurice-sendak/) > [“Steve toyed with the idea of sending his doodles to the artist’s agent. Perhaps this was his life’s calling and he’d make a fortune…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/debbie-macomber/steve-toyed-with-the-idea-of-sending-his-doodles-to-the-artist-s/) [Debbie Macomber](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/debbie-macomber/) > [“But if, like a bold painter, you had first sketched in a few audacious strokes the outline of the picture you had in your…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/e-t-a-hoffmann-2/but-if-like-a-bold-painter-you-had-first-sketched-in-a-few-audacious/) [E.T.A. Hoffmann](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/e-t-a-hoffmann-2/) > [It is a wonderful thing in the process of writing when such paper characters are first sketched, and, when one is doing good work,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gunter-grass/it-is-a-wonderful-thing-in-the-process-of-writing-when-such-paper/) [Gunter Grass](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gunter-grass/) > [I'm very slow, and I do everything myself. I remember I spent three days to change the size of something I had sketched because…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-pierre-jeunet/i-m-very-slow-and-i-do-everything-myself-i-remember-i-spent-three/) [Jean-Pierre Jeunet](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-pierre-jeunet/) > [“As she drove away she thought about the flowers she'd sketched for him. Billy buttons. She'd drawn one after the other, bright balls of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/holly-ringland/as-she-drove-away-she-thought-about-the-flowers-she-d-sketched-for/) [Holly Ringland](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/holly-ringland/) > [About 70 percent of everything is really sketched out on my keyboard beforehand, because I do want accidents to happen in the studio.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/scott-walker/about-70-percent-of-everything-is-really-sketched-out-on-my-keyboard/) [Scott Walker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/scott-walker/) > [Rohini Mohan read. While she did, I sketched her. She writes with such beauty and violence, and it seemed like the best way to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/molly-crabapple/rohini-mohan-read-while-she-did-i-sketched-her-she-writes-with-such/) [Molly Crabapple](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/molly-crabapple/) > [“It just feels like meeting him again was like seeing a blank paper ready to be sketched, a different idea to be drawn.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/basma-salem/it-just-feels-like-meeting-him-again-was-like-seeing-a-blank-paper/) [Basma Salem](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/basma-salem/) > [I left school at 16 and my mother got me a job as a trainee wine taster. But one day I followed some girls…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/malcolm-mclaren/i-left-school-at-16-and-my-mother-got-me-a-job-as-a-trainee-wine/) [Malcolm Mclaren](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/malcolm-mclaren/) > [I have sketched since a young age, so there's always been an artistic side, a visual side to my personality.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-parker/i-have-sketched-since-a-young-age-so-there-s-always-been-an-artistic/) [Mark Parker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-parker/) > [As if goaded by a kind of frantic despair, I sketched these dirty, ragged little victims of the war with their bruised, lacerated minds…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walter-keane/as-if-goaded-by-a-kind-of-frantic-despair-i-sketched-these-dirty/) [Walter Keane](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walter-keane/) > [“She sketched this moment into her mind, because nothing could be so perfect. Nothing could stay right, and last.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/calia-read/she-sketched-this-moment-into-her-mind-because-nothing-could-be-so/) [Calia Read](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/calia-read/) > [“They are more real than the books on the shelves, books that are sketched with the barest hint of a line here and there,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/diane-setterfield/they-are-more-real-than-the-books-on-the-shelves-books-that-are/) [Diane Setterfield](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/diane-setterfield/) ## More by Chip Kidd > [Yes, Garnett Grey was an Architect. Were a psychoanalyst to approach him from behind, tap his shoulder, and say 'Humanity,' Garrett'd spin and respond,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chip-kidd/yes-garnett-grey-was-an-architect-were-a-psychoanalyst-to-approach/) [Chip Kidd](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chip-kidd/) > [I often get asked, 'Is the book dead?' It hasn't happened yet. It's different than music. Music was always meant to be pure sound…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chip-kidd/i-often-get-asked-is-the-book-dead-it-hasn-t-happened-yet-it-s/) [Chip Kidd](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chip-kidd/) > [Much is to be gained by eBooks: ease, convenience, portability. But something is definitely lost: tradition, a sensual experience, the comfort of thingy-ness -…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chip-kidd/much-is-to-be-gained-by-ebooks-ease-convenience-portability-but/) [Chip Kidd](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chip-kidd/) > [“On the first day of class, the Visual Arts building reclined before me like an old brick whore, egging me to show her one,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chip-kidd/on-the-first-day-of-class-the-visual-arts-building-reclined-before-me/) [Chip Kidd](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chip-kidd/) > [Hey, have you heard that one about the difference between me, Wit, and my loutish cousin, Hilarity? No? Okay, so I walk into a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chip-kidd/hey-have-you-heard-that-one-about-the-difference-between-me-wit-and/) [Chip Kidd](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chip-kidd/) > [“(...) photography opened up quite a little Pandora's box, kiddies. (...) Once we no longer had to depend on drawing and painting to record…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chip-kidd/photography-opened-up-quite-a-little-pandora-s-box-kiddies-once-we-no/) [Chip Kidd](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chip-kidd/) > [Commercial Art tries to make you buy things. Graphic Design gives you ideas.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chip-kidd/commercial-art-tries-to-make-you-buy-things-graphic-design-gives-you/) [Chip Kidd](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chip-kidd/) > [What people really want, no matter who they are, is someone to listen to them. ... people have a lot on their minds, however…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chip-kidd/what-people-really-want-no-matter-who-they-are-is-someone-to-listen/) [Chip Kidd](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chip-kidd/) > [If you intend to die, you can do anything.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chip-kidd/if-you-intend-to-die-you-can-do-anything/) [Chip Kidd](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chip-kidd/) > [“We are the Western World. We read, see, think. Left. To. Right. We can't help it. ..The problem with Top to Bottom is that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chip-kidd/we-are-the-western-world-we-read-see-think-left-to-right-we-can-t/) [Chip Kidd](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chip-kidd/) > [“Never let your mouth write a check that your ass can't cash.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chip-kidd/never-let-your-mouth-write-a-check-that-your-ass-can-t-cash/) [Chip Kidd](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chip-kidd/) > [“Graphic Design for its own sake will never happen, because the concept cancels itself out — a poster about nothing other than itself is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chip-kidd/graphic-design-for-its-own-sake-will-never-happen-because-the-concept/) [Chip Kidd](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chip-kidd/) > [I had no idea what I was doing, I had no idea where I was going, but at some point I stopped — when…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chip-kidd/i-had-no-idea-what-i-was-doing-i-had-no-idea-where-i-was-going-but-at/) [Chip Kidd](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chip-kidd/) > [“But at the end of the day, you can't major in Making Stuff, so it was Art by default.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chip-kidd/but-at-the-end-of-the-day-you-can-t-major-in-making-stuff-so-it-was/) [Chip Kidd](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chip-kidd/) > [If you can properly define the problem, then you've already defined the solution as well.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chip-kidd/if-you-can-properly-define-the-problem-then-you-ve-already-defined/) [Chip Kidd](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chip-kidd/) [Explore all 43 Chip Kidd quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chip-kidd/) ## More Art quotes > [True works of art contain their own theory and give us the measurement according to which we should judge them.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/johann-wolfgang-von-goethe/true-works-of-art-contain-their-own-theory-and-give-us-the/) [Johann Wolfgang von Goethe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/johann-wolfgang-von-goethe/) > [Before Noah, men having only water to drink, could not find the truth. Accordingly...they became abominably wicked, and they were justly exterminated by the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/benjamin-franklin/before-noah-men-having-only-water-to-drink-could-not-find-the-truth/) [Benjamin Franklin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/benjamin-franklin/) > [“Hear the sum of the whole matter in the compass of one brief word — every art possessed by man comes from Prometheus.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aeschylus/hear-the-sum-of-the-whole-matter-in-the-compass-of-one-brief-word/) [Aeschylus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aeschylus/) > [I think most artists feel like they're outside society - no matter how many accolades they receive, or how much money is in your…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aaron-rose/i-think-most-artists-feel-like-they-re-outside-society-no-matter-how/) [Aaron Rose](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aaron-rose/) > [The capacity to be puzzled is the premise of all creation, be it in art or in science.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/erich-fromm/the-capacity-to-be-puzzled-is-the-premise-of-all-creation-be-it-in/) [Erich Fromm](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/erich-fromm/) > [That's the great secret of creativity. You treat ideas like cats: you make them follow you.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ray-bradbury/that-s-the-great-secret-of-creativity-you-treat-ideas-like-cats-you/) [Ray Bradbury](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ray-bradbury/) > [“So, really," continued Jacob as if this were perfectly normal to expound on art in these circumstances, "when you think about it, the artists…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/justina-chen-headley/so-really-continued-jacob-as-if-this-were-perfectly-normal-to-expound/) [Justina Chen Headley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/justina-chen-headley/) > [“There are two options in art; either to adopt philosophical life by dissecting art, or to write your own philosophical life and claim it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/taf-teh/there-are-two-options-in-art-either-to-adopt-philosophical-life-by/) Taf Teh > [The house has to serve comfort. The work of art is revolutionary; the house is conservative.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adolf-loos/the-house-has-to-serve-comfort-the-work-of-art-is-revolutionary-the/) [Adolf Loos](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/adolf-loos/) > [During human progress, every science is evolved out of its corresponding art.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/herbert-spencer/during-human-progress-every-science-is-evolved-out-of-its/) [Herbert Spencer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/herbert-spencer/) > [In literature and art memory is a synonym for invention. It is the life-blood of imagination, which faints and dies when the veins are…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-aris-willmott/in-literature-and-art-memory-is-a-synonym-for-invention-it-is-the/) [Robert Aris Willmott](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-aris-willmott/) > [I think a business guy is different from an artist. They walk different paths. Artists create the best outputs when they're having fun. And…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/g-dragon/i-think-a-business-guy-is-different-from-an-artist-they-walk/) [G-Dragon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/g-dragon/) > [“The only thing--I tell you this straight from the heart--that disgusts me in Salzburg is that one can't have any proper social intercourse with…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wolfgang-amadeus-mozart/the-only-thing-i-tell-you-this-straight-from-the-heart-that-disgusts/) [Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wolfgang-amadeus-mozart/) > [The sublime in art is the attempt to express the infinite without finding in the realm of phenomena any object which proves itself fitting…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/georg-wilhelm-friedrich-hegel/the-sublime-in-art-is-the-attempt-to-express-the-infinite-without/) [Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/georg-wilhelm-friedrich-hegel/) > [Art isn't done to decorate apartments, but to wage war against the enemy.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pablo-picasso/art-isn-t-done-to-decorate-apartments-but-to-wage-war-against-the/) [Pablo Picasso](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pablo-picasso/) [Browse all 48,643 Art quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/art/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“He was the most astonishing contradiction of components I’d ever encountered. Shy yet fiercely communicative when putting an idea into your head. Vocally astringent regarding his own abilities but not to the point that he couldn’t produce—he was as prolific an artist (yes, an artist, and I never use the term, especially regarding people I like) I’ve ever seen. But I could feel it. Everything he sketched, penciled, inked, made—was a payment, one he could scarcely afford; as if it physically hurt him to put pencil to paper. Yet that only seemed to spur him on, to live far beyond his means. He was unable not to. For Sketch, to draw was to breath, and so the air became lead—silvery in the right light, dark soot in the wrong; heavy, slick and malleable—into shapes he brought together in glorious orchestration, with a child’s eye and a rocket scientist’s precision, all fortified by a furious melancholy, a quiet engine of sourceless shame and humility. When it came to another’s work, he longed to praise it but then couldn’t resist critiquing it all within an inch of its life, analyzing deficiencies with uncontrollable abandon and laser accuracy. He was sharp as his Radio 914 pen nibs, and as pointed. And then he’d apologize. Oh, he would apologize: Oh my GOD, forgive me, please don’t hate me, I’m SORRY, don’t listen to me, why am I saying things, what do I know, I don’t know anything, why do you listen to me you should just tell me to shut UP, I’m awful, forgive me, you hate me, don’t you? Tell the truth. Please don’t hate me. Please don’t. Please.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Chip Kidd" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chip-kidd/he-was-the-most-astonishing-contradiction-of-components-i-d-ever/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Art" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chip-kidd/he-was-the-most-astonishing-contradiction-of-components-i-d-ever/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f46/chip-kidd-15285_art_he-was-the-most-astonishing-contradictio_577446.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f46/chip-kidd-15285_art_he-was-the-most-astonishing-contradictio_577446.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f46/chip-kidd-15285_art_he-was-the-most-astonishing-contradictio_577446.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“He was the most astonishing contradiction of components I’d ever encountered. 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