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

That is what we are supposed to do when we are at our best – make it all up – but make it up so truly that later it will happen that way.

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

I’m getting a wrinkle above my eyebrow because I just can’t stop lifting it, and I love that you know.

Cherish your visions and your dreams as they are the children of your soul, the blueprints of your ultimate achievements.

I felt I really wanted to back off from music completely and just work within the visual arts in some way. I started painting quite passionately at that time.

Objects in pictures should so be arranged as by their very position to tell their own story.

Every bit of me is devoted to love and art. And I aspire to try to be a teacher to my young fans who feel just like I felt when I was younger. I just felt like a freak. I guess what I’m trying to say is I’m trying to liberate them, I want to free them of their fears and make them feel that they can make their own space in the world.

There is no blue without yellow and without orange.

I am an example of what is possible when girls from the very beginning of their lives are loved and nurtured by people around them. I was surrounded by extraordinary women in my life who taught me about quiet strength and dignity.

I’m just writing, writing, writing. I keep these tablets on me until I’m inspired to go back in and make the music. I never take a break from my pen, because I pride myself on that.

If you wish to be a writer, write.

Life is either a great adventure or nothing.

I take inspiration from everyone and everything. I’m inspired by current champions, former champions, true competitors, people dedicated to their dream, hard workers, dreamers, believers, achievers.

Next to the Word of God, the noble art of music is the greatest treasure in the world.

When you are organizing a group of people, the first thing that we do is we talk about the history of what other people have been able to accomplish – people that look like them, workers like them, ordinary people, working people – and we give them the list: these are people like yourself; this is what they were able to do in their community.

We are all hungry and thirsty for concrete images. Abstract art will have been good for one thing: to restore its exact virginity to figurative art.

Any good piece of material like Shakespeare ought to be open to reinterpretation.

Wherever the invitation of men or your own occasions lead you, speak the very truth, as your life and conscience teach it, and cheer the waiting, fainting hearts of men with new hope and new revelation.

I do have motivation. A lot of motivation.

Personally, I think the best motto for an educational establishment is: ‚Or Would You Rather Be a Mule?‘

A more secret, sweet, and overpowering beauty appears to man when his heart and mind open to the sentiment of virtue.

I’ve been trying to… Having been an English literary graduate, I’ve been trying to avoid the idea of doing art ever since. I think the idea of art kills creativity.

All that I am, or hope to be, I owe to my angel mother.

As long as my music is real, it’s no limit to how many ears I can grab.

There’s poetry in being the band that can sell out Wembley but also makes a record in a garage. I don’t like doing what people expect me to do.

If a man knows not what harbor he seeks, any wind is the right wind.

You might win some, you might lose some. But you go in, you challenge yourself, you become a better man, a better individual, a better fighter.

Every band I’ve worked with also wants to be countercultural in the sense that they want to feel that they’ve gone somewhere that nobody else has been.

Genius creates, and taste preserves. Taste is the good sense of genius; without taste, genius is only sublime folly.

Innovation can only occur where you can breathe free.

Consider a tree for a moment. As beautiful as trees are to look at, we don’t see what goes on underground – as they grow roots. Trees must develop deep roots in order to grow strong and produce their beauty. But we don’t see the roots. We just see and enjoy the beauty. In much the same way, what goes on inside of us is like the roots of a tree.

Does wisdom perhaps appear on the earth as a raven which is inspired by the smell of carrion?

It seems to me we can never give up longing and wishing while we are thoroughly alive. There are certain things we feel to be beautiful and good, and we must hunger after them.

I draw from the crowd a lot.

Poetry is the key to the hieroglyphics of nature.

When I’m in the studio, I’m looking for creativity I haven’t matched yet, a feeling I haven’t felt. It’s a high.

Were I called on to define, very briefly, the term Art, I should call it ‚the reproduction of what the Senses perceive in Nature through the veil of the soul.‘ The mere imitation, however accurate, of what is in Nature, entitles no man to the sacred name of ‚Artist.‘

Always do whatever’s next.

When a man becomes a writer, I think he takes on a sacred obligation to produce beauty and enlightenment and comfort at top speed.

Somebody once asked me what my theory of life was, and I said, ‚Don’t try.‘ That fits the writing, too. I don’t try; I just type.

It’s a curse. I ask God to take this away from me all the time. I do not like being an artist.

Writing is like anything else – the more you do it, the better you get at it, the easier it comes, and the less concerned you’ll be about what’s going to happen to it, where it’s going, what it sounds like, whether it’s right.

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

Continuous eloquence wearies. Grandeur must be abandoned to be appreciated. Continuity in everything is unpleasant. Cold is agreeable, that we may get warm.

Many of my fans often tell me that they listen to my songs to get through things. And therefore, obviously, I hope that they can picture being in a place where things are better… I hope my songs can bring people to a calm place.

Mere humans who root through their refrigerators at three o’clock in the morning can only produce writing that matches what they do. And that includes me.

I can say I’d honestly rather be happy than have 30 to 40 songs that I’ve written about these thrilling, exciting, horrible, unhappy times.

I love my daddy. My daddy’s everything. I hope I can find a man that will treat me as good as my dad.

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

True ease in writing comes from art, not chance, as those move easiest who have learn’d to dance.

Ideas are like rabbits. You get a couple and learn how to handle them, and pretty soon you have a dozen.

My music definitely comes from a place of experience. Everything connects to a truth.

Imagination decides everything.

We like to think about how smart we are. But I think talent as a writer is hard-wired in, it’s all there, at least the basic elements of it. You can’t change it any more than you can choose whether to be right handed or left handed.

The sun is gone, but I have a light.

You are remembered for the rules you break.

Effective philanthropy requires a lot of time and creativity – the same kind of focus and skills that building a business requires.

If, after I depart this vale, you ever remember me and have thought to please my ghost, forgive some sinner and wink your eye at some homely girl.

What would life be if we had no courage to attempt anything?

The love of heaven makes one heavenly.