Special Thinkers
I’ve always collected little tidbits. I’ve also had the great fortune to learn from really wise people, and sometimes really unwise people. This is a small selection from a long list of quotes I keep in my phone called “Sofie’s Special Thinkers!”
These are some that have informed my creative process, in no particular order. I thought this could be a fun way to show myself as a collaborator, artist, creative, and that I do know better. Some of these have credits but most of them don’t, because I usually don’t know how to tell someone I’m writing down what they say when they say it, and the consent to be echoed is wishy-washy.
“People only tell you where they’ve been or where they are”- Amy Poehler
“Bad news happens all at once and good news happens slowly”
“Fashion is the externalization of your internal state and the individualization of the collective state. It is encapsulating what we’re going through and what you’re going through at the same time. The most obvious barometer of time made visible. It is literal boundary between you and the world, and it navigates that boundary. It’s how you’re choosing to stand out and fit in at the same time. Delicate dance of looking individual and feeling like everyone else.” - Avery Trufelman, Articles of Interest
“Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds.”- Albert Einstein
“You can tell when someone’s doing business, and when they’re doing kindness.”- Mom
“Women, in our culture, lead from the one-down, have a leading shame-position with covert grandiosity; men lead with the one-up, superior position, and lead with covert shame.”- a self-help podcast
“Shame-based people have pain, grandiose-based people have trouble. They’re not in pain; the people around them are in pain.” - a self-help podcast
“Your greatest collaborator is the moment.” - Maggie Rogers, 2025 NYU Commencement Speech
“Keep the dreams bigger than the fears.”- Maggie Rogers, 2025 NYU Commencement Speech (it was a really great speech)
“Don’t be a dick on the -in.”- Hamilton tour Wardrobe Supervisor
“My job is not defined by how I maintain/respond consistency and order, it’s how I respond to change.” - a lighting designer, educator
“Entertainment is not a dirty word.”
“If you approach collaboration as a competition, you are bound to lose.” - a famous production designer
“Respect is made through response and reinforcement.”
“Writers and stylists like to be wined and dined.” - an old boss (public relations office)
“Be wrong, fast.” - a writing professor
“Meet people where they’re at.” - every therapist, self-help podcast, my social work degree
“Credit that you give yourself is not worth having.”
“Busy and productive are not the same thing.”
“Never give the audience 4, give them 2 plus 2.” - a film professor
“Creativity is the antithesis of violence.” - a former Disney Imagineer
“Burnout is not a result of the amount of work given, it’s the emotional output.”
“If you hate everyone, eat. If you hate yourself, take a shower. If you think everyone hates you, go to bed.” - a friend from freshman year of college
“Everything’s a hammer, unless it’s a screwdriver, cause then it’s a chisel.” - an old boss (production office)
“If you can’t write sex, write food. If you can’t write food, write gore. If you can’t write gore, write sex.” - a film professor
“Be attentive to process rather than outcome.”
“All that matters is what’s onstage in the moment. Stop making it make sense.”- a director I’ve worked with
“Managerial practice is anchored in servatorial leadership.”
“Regard language as dynamic as it is.”
“You may never be the strongest, most talented, most attractive, most successful, happiest person in the room. But, you can always be the most hardworking” - my high school theatre director
Give people the opportunity to say no.
“You are what you love, not what loves you.”
I don’t wish I were better at math. I’m so happy.
