Ralph Waldo Emerson knows that “What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us.” While we should learn from history and care for the future, what happens here and now should always take precedence.

Ralph Waldo Emerson knows that “What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us.”

While we should learn from history and care for the future, what happens here and now should always take precedence.

David Lynch inspired this chart-like reflection on the ebbing and flowing of imagination through the years, especially in relation to the “rules” of life. “We think we understand the rules when we become adults but what we really experience is a narrowing of the imagination.”

David Lynch inspired this chart-like reflection on the ebbing and flowing of imagination through the years, especially in relation to the “rules” of life.

“We think we understand the rules when we become adults but what we really experience is a narrowing of the imagination.”

George Bernard Shaw warned us to “Beware of false knowledge; it is more dangerous than ignorance.” Shaw is a fabulous person to quote, I rely on his words liberally and often. Also, full disclosure that I’m an anthropology major by trade and got a substantial kick out of fitting the ‘armchair anthropologists’ joke into this one (a term that refers to academics who don’t venture too far outside the library and hide from actual fieldwork – a crime anthropologists were especially guilty of in the early years of the discipline). 

George Bernard Shaw warned us to “Beware of false knowledge; it is more dangerous than ignorance.”

Shaw is a fabulous person to quote, I rely on his words liberally and often. Also, full disclosure that I’m an anthropology major by trade and got a substantial kick out of fitting the ‘armchair anthropologists’ joke into this one (a term that refers to academics who don’t venture too far outside the library and hide from actual fieldwork – a crime anthropologists were especially guilty of in the early years of the discipline). 

Ernest Becker points to the undeniable relationship between madness and wildly creative thinking.  “The road to creativity passes so close to the madhouse and often detours or ends there.” If in doubt, always head for left field…

Ernest Becker points to the undeniable relationship between madness and wildly creative thinking. 

“The road to creativity passes so close to the madhouse and often detours or ends there.”

If in doubt, always head for left field…

Raymond Chandler reminds us to stay humble, as our wits are about as eternal as the food turning soft in our fridge (I’m looking at you cabbage…). “Cleverness, like perhaps strawberries, is a perishable commodity.” I find quote-hoarding to be a fabulous method of borrowing the knowledgable thoughts of others when my own fails.

Raymond Chandler reminds us to stay humble, as our wits are about as eternal as the food turning soft in our fridge (I’m looking at you cabbage…).

“Cleverness, like perhaps strawberries, is a perishable commodity.”

I find quote-hoarding to be a fabulous method of borrowing the knowledgable thoughts of others when my own fails.

Submit an Illuminating Quote, Have Mappleton Illustrate it!

Dearest Chart-lovers!

Submit your best quotations hiding away in those digital treasure troves into the I Love Charts Ask Box for a chance to have them speed illustrated and uploaded to the blog before the day is out! I’ll pick two or three that lend themselves well to being charted (but will try extra hard to adapt any quotes I just adore) and get my speedy little pen to work – hopefully before 9pm EST.

Hit me with ‘em!

Bob Dylan made beautiful words as well as melodies. In his opinion, “A man is a success if he gets up in the morning and gets to bed at night, and in between he does what he wants to do.” Treat every day as a space for doing what you love. Eg. Trolling the internet for charts! I know reddit can be a scary place, but I do recommend exploring the depths of r/Charts, r/DataIsBeautiful, r/Infographics, and of course r/QuotesPorn!

Bob Dylan made beautiful words as well as melodies. In his opinion, “A man is a success if he gets up in the morning and gets to bed at night, and in between he does what he wants to do.”

Treat every day as a space for doing what you love. Eg. Trolling the internet for charts! I know reddit can be a scary place, but I do recommend exploring the depths of r/Charts, r/DataIsBeautiful, r/Infographics, and of course r/QuotesPorn!

Chartist-in-Residency – Maggie Takes Over

Goooooooood morning chart-enthusiasts!

Welcome to a full day of chart-and-quote-related postings and reflections. I’m Maggie Appleton (I go by the pseudonym ”mappleton”) and I’ll be hosting I Love Charts here for the day. You can find a lot more of me and my illustrative chartings on my blog mappleton.co and my twitter @mappletons.

Charts have been a deep and lasting love of mine ever since I first stumbled across the work of legends such as David McCandless and began spending more time on Visua.ly than I did sleeping. While trying my hand at infographics a few times, keeping track of numbers and proportions in my art drove me up the wall. Eventually I compromised by tossing out accuracy, embracing oddity, and doing whatever the hell I wanted with my charts… this is the internet after all!

For the past few months I’ve been on a kick of doing “Illuminating Quotes, Visualised,” combining my passion for chart-like visualisation and great quotations – a project theme that has seemingly taken on a life of its own.

To give you a better idea of the hours ahead, lets start ourselves out with some old favourites:

One

Wake up with Neil DeGrasse Tyson and coffee!

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Two

Simply perfecting my acute observation skills…

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Three

I often try to solve the world problem of too few charts in order to avoid boredom.

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