I think my biggest musical hero growing up was probably Ian MacKaye. He set a great example for all of us local musicians. Still, to this day, I see him as the best example of a right-on musician.

Astronomy compels the soul to look upwards and leads us from this world to another.

A loving heart is the truest wisdom.

I’m telling you there is hope. I have seen it, but it does not come from the governments or corporations. It comes from the people.

The world is full of magical things patiently waiting for our wits to grow sharper.

Life is one grand, sweet song, so start the music.

If your determination is fixed, I do not counsel you to despair. Few things are impossible to diligence and skill. Great works are performed not by strength, but perseverance.

There is a single light of science, and to brighten it anywhere is to brighten it everywhere.

For me, writing a novel is like having a dream. Writing a novel lets me intentionally dream while I’m still awake. I can continue yesterday’s dream today, something you can’t normally do in everyday life.

Oh, the difference between nearly right and exactly right.

I suppose for me as an artist it wasn’t always just about expressing my work; I really wanted, more than anything else, to contribute in some way to the culture that I was living in. It just seemed like a challenge to move it a little bit towards the way I thought it might be interesting to go.

There is a fundamental question we all have to face. How are we to live our lives; by what principles and moral values will we be guided and inspired?

Art! Who comprehends her? With whom can one consult concerning this great goddess?

Our truest life is when we are in dreams awake.

And when it rains on your parade, look up rather than down. Without the rain, there would be no rainbow.

Dream no small dreams for they have no power to move the hearts of men.

Do not think of your faults, still less of other’s faults; look for what is good and strong, and try to imitate it. Your faults will drop off, like dead leaves, when their time comes.

He who has courage and faith will never perish in misery!

In cricket, my superhero is Sachin Tendulkar. He has always been my hero and will continue to remain so. Apart from him and outside cricket, my mother has remained my inspiration. Whatever difficult time I had faced, she was always there for me. She has given me all the strength. She maintained her composure and supported me in tough times.

Do not quench your inspiration and your imagination; do not become the slave of your model.

The great end of life is not knowledge but action.

You can’t die with an unfinished book.

Keep your face to the sunshine and you cannot see a shadow.

Every moment is an organizing opportunity, every person a potential activist, every minute a chance to change the world.

From the moment I started writing raps, I was always aware of the pressure. I always wanted to live up to how huge Snoop got, how huge Dre got, how huge Pac got. I was always aware.

I do have motivation. A lot of motivation.

We must act out passion before we can feel it.

Nay, be a Columbus to whole new continents and worlds within you, opening new channels, not of trade, but of thought.

So many people have this idea: I want to achieve something great or be somebody great. And they neglect the step that leads to greatness. They don’t honor this step at this moment because they have this idea of some future moment where they are going to be great.

The bravest person I’ve ever met was a young boy going through massive amounts of treatment for a very rare, complex and unpleasant disease. I last saw him at a Discworld convention, where he chose to take part in a game as an assassin. He died not long afterwards, and I wish I had his fortitude and sense of style.

Pursue some path, however narrow and crooked, in which you can walk with love and reverence.

If you can ask a young man to give his life for his country, you can lead people.

The spirit is there in every boy; it has to be discovered and brought to light.

You must capture and keep the heart of the original and supremely able man before his brain can do its best.

Although the circumstances of our lives may seem very disengaged, with me standing here as the First Lady of the United States of America and you just getting through school, I want you to know we have very much in common. For nothing in my life ever would have predicted that I would be standing here as the first African-American First Lady.

My dad was never married. He was kind of a rolling stone. But he was never disrespectful. At the same time, even though he had women in his life when I was a kid, there wasn’t any consistency.

I never wanted to be the next Bruce Lee. I just wanted to be the first Jackie Chan.

Not having hope is not an excuse for not doing something.

When I start to write, I don’t have any plan at all. I just wait for the story to come.

The ancestor of every action is a thought.

My inspiration is R. Kelly, Michael Jackson, and Prince – for the vocals, anyway.

Sometimes you need faith and victory spoken over your life. Words have created power. When you receive them into your spirit, they can ignite seeds of increase on the inside.

A leader is a dealer in hope.

My lyrics are generated by various peculiar processes. Very random and similar to automatic writing.

In every walk of life, you must have leaders. An education in the spiritual world, in the labor field, in the agricultural field, we must have leaders.

I couldn’t have written things like ‚Low‘ and ‚Heroes,‘ those particular albums, if it hadn’t have been for Berlin and the kind of atmosphere I felt there.

If thou art a man, admire those who attempt great things, even though they fail.

Efforts and courage are not enough without purpose and direction.

I don’t blame the average seventeen-year-old punk-rock kid for calling me a sellout. I understand that. And maybe when they grow up a little bit, they’ll realize there’s more things to life than living out your rock & roll identity so righteously.

Neil Young is my hero, and such a great example. You know what that guy has been doing for the past 40 years? Making music. That’s what that guy does. Sometimes you pay attention, sometimes you don’t. Sometimes he hands it to you, sometimes he keeps it to himself. He’s a good man with a beautiful family and wonderful life.

I’m not in control of my muse. My muse does all the work.

If you want to shine like a sun, first burn like a sun.

If you want to succeed you should strike out on new paths, rather than travel the worn paths of accepted success.

I dream of painting and then I paint my dream.

Hide not your talents. They for use were made. What’s a sundial in the shade?

Whenever death may surprise us, let it be welcome if our battle cry has reached even one receptive ear and another hand reaches out to take up our arms.

I have a message to give to the world, and I shall not be thwarted.

Steven Spielberg was my childhood hero.

The primary distinction of the artist is that he must actively cultivate that state which most men, necessarily, must avoid; the state of being alone.

The empires of the future are the empires of the mind.

I would rather be ashes than dust! I would rather be a superb meteor, every atom of me in magnificent glow, than a sleepy and permanent planet.