--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Do stuff. Be clenched, curious. Not…" description: "\"Do stuff. Be clenched, curious. Not waiting for inspiration's shove or society's kiss on your forehead.\" — Susan Sontag" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/9ac/susan-sontag-332_curious_do-stuff-be-clenched-curious-not-waiting_1759715.jpg" --- # Do stuff. Be clenched, curious. Not waiting for… ![“Do stuff. Be clenched, curious. Not waiting for inspiration's shove or society's kiss on your forehead.” quote by Susan Sontag](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/9ac/susan-sontag-332_curious_do-stuff-be-clenched-curious-not-waiting_1759715.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/9ac/susan-sontag-332_curious_do-stuff-be-clenched-curious-not-waiting_1759715.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/9ac/susan-sontag-332_curious_do-stuff-be-clenched-curious-not-waiting_1759715.jpg) > “Do stuff. Be clenched, curious. Not waiting for inspiration's shove or society's kiss on your forehead.” [Susan Sontag](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-sontag/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Act proactively with curiosity and determination, rather than waiting for external inspiration or approval. **In simple terms:** Act with curiosity, not waiting for inspiration. Key Takeaway Take initiative and stay curious. Themes initiative curiosity self‑motivation Mood energetic determined Type inspirational pragmatic When to use this quote - artistic projects - research - entrepreneurship - learning new skills Key Concepts creative drive personal agency Questions to Reflect On - What drives your curiosity today? - How can you balance action with reflection? A Different Perspective Risk of burnout without rest or reflection. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Inspiration](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/inspiration/) [Kissing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/kissing/) ## Related quotes > [I'm sorry." "Be sorry you lied," he said, pressing a kiss to my forehead. "Don't be sorry you loved him. That's part of you,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richelle-mead/i-m-sorry-be-sorry-you-lied-he-said-pressing-a-kiss-to-my-forehead/) [Richelle Mead](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richelle-mead/) > [I pull the sleeping bag up to his chin and kiss his forehead, not for the audience, but for me. Because I'm so grateful…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/suzanne-collins/i-pull-the-sleeping-bag-up-to-his-chin-and-kiss-his-forehead-not-for/) [Suzanne Collins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/suzanne-collins/) > [Then he gave her a kiss on the forehead that felt like a baptism and she wept like a baby.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/zadie-smith/then-he-gave-her-a-kiss-on-the-forehead-that-felt-like-a-baptism-and/) [Zadie Smith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/zadie-smith/) > [Do stuff. be clenched, curious. Not waiting for inspiration's shove or society's kiss on your forehead. Pay attention. It's all about paying attention. attention…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-sontag/do-stuff-be-clenched-curious-not-waiting-for-inspiration-s-shove-or-2/) [Susan Sontag](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-sontag/) > [I want someone that will wrap his arms around me, kiss my forehead, and hold my heart above the world so that no one…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hottiedevil/i-want-someone-that-will-wrap-his-arms-around-me-kiss-my-forehead-and/) HOttieDeviL > [“She suddenly realizes that Bob, the probable cancer patient, is standing in the hallway looking lost. She stops and tries to look concerned. 'Will…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tom-winter/she-suddenly-realizes-that-bob-the-probable-cancer-patient-is/) Tom Winter > [WHAT EACH KISS MEANS > kiss on the forehead= we're cute together > kiss on the cheek= we're Friends > kiss on the hand=…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/what-each-kiss-means-kiss-on-the-forehead-we-re-cute-together-kiss-on/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [You kiss my forehead and tell me how much you love me. You look into my eyes and tell me Im beautiful. I start…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/justice-fitzgerald/you-kiss-my-forehead-and-tell-me-how-much-you-love-me-you-look-into/) [Justice Fitzgerald](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/justice-fitzgerald/) > [What each Kiss means; Kiss on the Forehead: We're friends. Kiss on the Cheek: We're cute. Kiss on the Hand: I adore you. Kiss…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/what-each-kiss-means-kiss-on-the-forehead-we-re-friends-kiss-on-the/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [“I cross to her and kiss her forehead, not touching her anywhere else. She smells like sunshine and strawberries. She smells like she used…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kristen-proby/i-cross-to-her-and-kiss-her-forehead-not-touching-her-anywhere-else/) [Kristen Proby](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kristen-proby/) > [“The mind of a child is like a kiss on the forehead — open and disinterested”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/patti-smith/the-mind-of-a-child-is-like-a-kiss-on-the-forehead-open-and/) [Patti Smith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/patti-smith/) > [“I kiss his forehead. "You are a wimpy idiot. But...I still love you." "I love you too, Woods.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/miranda-kenneally/i-kiss-his-forehead-you-are-a-wimpy-idiot-but-i-still-love-you-i-love/) [Miranda Kenneally](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/miranda-kenneally/) > [“He stops his conversation with Grom and leans over to kiss my forehead. “How do you feel?” “Hungry.” Rachel sets a plate full of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anna-banks/he-stops-his-conversation-with-grom-and-leans-over-to-kiss-my/) [Anna Banks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anna-banks/) > [Right now I just want someone who kiss on my forehead and tell me how lucky they are to have someone like me..](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/right-now-i-just-want-someone-who-kiss-on-my-forehead-and-tell-me-how/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [“You should have been born a poet,” she whispered as she pulled away. “Screw that,” he laughed as he placed a gentle kiss to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/amelia-hutchins/you-should-have-been-born-a-poet-she-whispered-as-she-pulled-away/) [Amelia Hutchins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/amelia-hutchins/) ## More by Susan Sontag > [the appetite for thinking must be regulated, as all sensible people know, for it may stifle one's life.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-sontag/the-appetite-for-thinking-must-be-regulated-as-all-sensible-people/) [Susan Sontag](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-sontag/) > [We are ruled by quotations.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-sontag/we-are-ruled-by-quotations/) [Susan Sontag](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-sontag/) > [Unfortunately, moral beauty in art - like physical beauty in a person - is extremely perishable. It is nowhere so durable as artistic or…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-sontag/unfortunately-moral-beauty-in-art-like-physical-beauty-in-a-person-is/) [Susan Sontag](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-sontag/) > [Like the collector, the photographer is animated by a passion that, even when it appears to be for the present, is linked to a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-sontag/like-the-collector-the-photographer-is-animated-by-a-passion-that/) [Susan Sontag](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-sontag/) > [ Anthropology has always struggled with an intense, fascinated repulsion towards its subject… \[The anthropologist\] submits himself to the exotic to confirm his own inner… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-sontag/anthropology-has-always-struggled-with-an-intense-fascinated/) [Susan Sontag](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-sontag/) > [“Why not eliminate schooling between age 12-16? It’s biologically + psychologically too turbulent a time to be cooped up inside, made to sit all…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-sontag/why-not-eliminate-schooling-between-age-12-16-it-s-biologically/) [Susan Sontag](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-sontag/) > [To photograph people is to violate them, by seeing them as they never see themselves, by having knowledge of them that they can never…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-sontag/to-photograph-people-is-to-violate-them-by-seeing-them-as-they-never/) [Susan Sontag](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-sontag/) > [One set of messages of the society we live in is: Consume. Grow. Do what you want. Amuse yourselves. The very working of this…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-sontag/one-set-of-messages-of-the-society-we-live-in-is-consume-grow-do-what/) [Susan Sontag](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-sontag/) > [Currently intellectuals in Western Europe and North America are extremely demoralized and shaken by the rise of a virulent conservative tendency (which some have…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-sontag/currently-intellectuals-in-western-europe-and-north-america-are/) [Susan Sontag](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-sontag/) > [With the modern diseases (once TB, now cancer) the romantic idea that the disease expresses the character is invariably extended to assert that the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-sontag/with-the-modern-diseases-once-tb-now-cancer-the-romantic-idea-that/) [Susan Sontag](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-sontag/) > [As objects of contemplation, images of the atrocious can answer to several different needs. To steel oneself against weakness. To make oneself more numb.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-sontag/as-objects-of-contemplation-images-of-the-atrocious-can-answer-to/) [Susan Sontag](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-sontag/) > [The creative phase of an idea coincides with the period during which it insists, cantankerously, on its boundaries, on what makes it different; but…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-sontag/the-creative-phase-of-an-idea-coincides-with-the-period-during-which/) [Susan Sontag](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-sontag/) > [Photographs objectify: they turn an event or a person into something that can be possessed.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-sontag/photographs-objectify-they-turn-an-event-or-a-person-into-something/) [Susan Sontag](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-sontag/) > [I'm not interested in giving aid and comfort to the neo­-Conservatives.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-sontag/i-m-not-interested-in-giving-aid-and-comfort-to-the-neo-conservatives/) [Susan Sontag](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-sontag/) > [The feminist movement has been important to me because it's made me feel less odd and also because it has made me understand some…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-sontag/the-feminist-movement-has-been-important-to-me-because-it-s-made-me/) [Susan Sontag](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-sontag/) [Explore all 644 Susan Sontag quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-sontag/) ## More Curious quotes > [“What about you? What do you do?” I needed to ask questions, draw him out. I needed to find out all the information I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kate-avery-ellison/what-about-you-what-do-you-do-i-needed-to-ask-questions-draw-him-out/) [Kate Avery Ellison](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kate-avery-ellison/) > [Okay, so I'll admit I'm curious. Big deal. We both know what that leads to. Dead cat.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-elizabeth-phillips/okay-so-i-ll-admit-i-m-curious-big-deal-we-both-know-what-that-leads/) [Susan Elizabeth Phillips](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-elizabeth-phillips/) > [A garden has a curious innocent way of consuming cash while all the time you are under the illusion that you are spending nothing.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/esther-meynell/a-garden-has-a-curious-innocent-way-of-consuming-cash-while-all-the/) [Esther Meynell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/esther-meynell/) > [“The process of becoming curious is the movement away from simply living by what and how, and moving into the beautifully ambiguous and possibility-laden…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/casey-tygrett/the-process-of-becoming-curious-is-the-movement-away-from-simply/) Casey Tygrett > [Real breakthroughs are not found because you want to develop some new technology, but because you are curious and want to find out how…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anton-zeilinger/real-breakthroughs-are-not-found-because-you-want-to-develop-some-new/) [Anton Zeilinger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anton-zeilinger/) > [I don't know what successful journaling really looks like... I think it really does look so different for everyone who does it, I'm always…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gracie-abrams/i-don-t-know-what-successful-journaling-really-looks-like-i-think-it/) [Gracie Abrams](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gracie-abrams/) > [“So curious you must be. Like little calves poking their heads through the fence with big eyes and a headful of curiosity.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carew-papritz/so-curious-you-must-be-like-little-calves-poking-their-heads-through/) [Carew Papritz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carew-papritz/) > [Our world is drowning in a sea of self-centeredness. You can make yourself quite unique right away by leaving this ocean of selfishness and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-bytheway/our-world-is-drowning-in-a-sea-of-self-centeredness-you-can-make/) [John Bytheway](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-bytheway/) > [Be curious not judge mental](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/unknow/be-curious-not-judge-mental/) Unknow > [“It is curious how little interested we are in the sexual desires of those who do not attract us.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gore-vidal/it-is-curious-how-little-interested-we-are-in-the-sexual-desires-of/) [Gore Vidal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gore-vidal/) > [International friendly games are not worth the lives of the silk worms who perish to make the pennants. They do not even have the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/danny-baker/international-friendly-games-are-not-worth-the-lives-of-the-silk/) [Danny Baker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/danny-baker/) > [Natural history is not taught in seminary. This is curious, as most people in pastoral ministry are about 567 times more likely to be…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sara-maitland/natural-history-is-not-taught-in-seminary-this-is-curious-as-most/) [Sara Maitland](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sara-maitland/) > [Easy, Curious George! Get your grubby hands off of that wheel!](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-cena/easy-curious-george-get-your-grubby-hands-off-of-that-wheel/) [John Cena](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-cena/) > [We want to explore. We're curious people. Look back over history, people have put their lives at stake to go out and explore ...…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eileen-collins/we-want-to-explore-we-re-curious-people-look-back-over-history-people/) [Eileen Collins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eileen-collins/) > [When I think about unique insight, what I think about is here's your opportunity to tell me something that I don't know.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-seibel/when-i-think-about-unique-insight-what-i-think-about-is-here-s-your/) [Michael Seibel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-seibel/) Browse all 2,160 Curious quotes ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Do stuff. Be clenched, curious. 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