The imagination imitates. It is the critical spirit that creates.

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

Miracles come in moments. Be ready and willing.

I’ve read a lot of really great characters in some really crappy stories, where I said, like, ‚Boy I could shine here, but the story sucks.‘ I don’t want to be part of that.

One strength of the communist system of the East is that it has some of the character of a religion and inspires the emotions of a religion.

The truth of it is that every singer out there with songs on the radio is raising the next generation, so make your words count.

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

When I’m inspired, I get excited because I can’t wait to see what I’ll come up with next.

You can’t die with an unfinished book.

You fail only if you stop writing.

I have a fundamental belief in the Bible as the Word of God, written by those who were inspired. I study the Bible daily.

This thing that I do with caring about the message in my music, it’s not separate from my work as a commercial artist; they’re totally one and the same. I’m always going to be thinking about what my voice means.

I’m a painter in sound.

The Bible says to ‚fear not,‘ but this doesn’t mean you should never feel scared. It means when you do feel fear, keep going forward and do what you are supposed to do. Or as I like to say, do it afraid.

Frankly, I mean, sometimes the interpretations I’ve seen on some of the songs that I’ve written are a lot more interesting than the input that I put in.

You can draw inspiration from anything. If you’re a good storyteller, you can take a dirty look somebody gives you, or if a guy you used to have flirtations with starts dating a new girl, or somebody you’re casually talking to says something that makes you so mad – you can create an entire scenario around that.

I like being a writer.

To affect the quality of the day, that is the highest of arts.

Japan’s very interesting. Some people think it copies things. I don’t think that anymore. I think what they do is reinvent things. They will get something that’s already been invented and study it until they thoroughly understand it. In some cases, they understand it better than the original inventor.

I always knew that St. Jude was an amazing organization but meeting the kids and seeing how the hospital works first hand was truly beautiful. It doesn’t feel like a regular hospital all dreary and sad. It’s a colorful, beautiful, comfortable, fun place to live and the energy is wonderful.

I always had music growing up, but music was also like a journal. It was like my personal diary or personal journal. A lot of the things I couldn’t express to an individual, I would express them in my music.

For just when ideas fail, a word comes in to save the situation.

I put all my genius into my life; I put only my talent into my works.

I try to sprinkle a little gems and jewels in the music that people could use in their own life.

People respond when you tell them there is a great future in front of you, you can leave your past behind.

When small men attempt great enterprises, they always end by reducing them to the level of their mediocrity.

I really want a movie made on Sachin Tendulkar’s life. That is something I’m looking forward to. There will be so much emotion to that movie.

One thing that writers have in common is that they are readers first. They have read lots and lots of stuff, because they’re just infested with lots of stuff.

I’ve had mixtapes that have been better than albums I’ve heard from other artists. I take my time; I put my heart into it.

Some of the stories I admire seem to zero in on one particular time and place. There isn’t a rule about this. But there’s a tidy sense about many stories I read. In my own work, I tend to cover a lot of time and to jump back and forward in time, and sometimes the way I do this is not very straightforward.

Men admire the man who can organize their wishes and thoughts in stone and wood and steel and brass.

I don’t like to write like God. It is only because you never do it, though, that the critics think you can’t do it.

Books are alive, you see. They’re not dead, they’re alive.

To create something you must be something.

One thing about ‚Star Wars‘ that I’m really proud of is that it expands the imagination. That’s why I like the ‚Star Wars‘ toys.

Through perseverance many people win success out of what seemed destined to be certain failure.

If I’m the people’s poet, then I ought to be in people’s hands – and, I hope, in their heart.

People don’t care about what someone says about you in a movie – or even what you say, right? They care about what you build. And if you can make something that makes people’s life better, then that’s something that’s really good.

Beauty without grace is the hook without the bait.

Duty, Honor, Country. Those three hallowed words reverently dictate what you ought to be, what you can be, what you will be.

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

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.

The one excellent thing that can be learned from a lion is that whatever a man intends doing should be done by him with a whole-hearted and strenuous effort.

I’m just a kid that defied the odds. I’m just a kid that ignored the doubt. I’m just a kid from a little place in Dublin, Ireland, that went all the way, and I’m going to continue to go all the way.

All art is but imitation of nature.

Eating words has never given me indigestion.

None of the records I make are ever a deliberate construction – they’re always an expression of who I am at the time and where I am in my life.

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.

The secret to the movie business, or any business, is to get a good education in a subject besides film – whether it’s history, psychology, economics, or architecture – so you have something to make a movie about. All the skill in the world isn’t going to help you unless you have something to say.

Our moments of inspiration are not lost though we have no particular poem to show for them; for those experiences have left an indelible impression, and we are ever and anon reminded of them.

I’m convinced that no one can amount to a damn in the arts if he becomes sweetly reasonable, seeing all sides of a picture, forgiving all sins.

I would warn you that I do not attribute to nature either beauty or deformity, order or confusion. Only in relation to our imagination can things be called beautiful or ugly, well-ordered or confused.

My whole life and my whole career, even through my music, I tell people: let’s unify; let’s show more love.

I don’t know how much longer I’ll be around. I’ll probably be writing when the Lord says, ‚Maya, Maya Angelou, it’s time.‘

The moment a person forms a theory, his imagination sees in every object only the traits which favor that theory.

I do not like the man who squanders life for fame; give me the man who living makes a name.

It’s a blessing that South Africa has a man like Nelson Mandela.

I really, truly believe that writing comes out of the body; of course, the mind is working as well, but it’s a double thing and that doubleness is united. I mean, you can’t separate persona from psyche; you just can’t do it.

I really haven’t had that exciting of a life. There are a lot of things I wish I would have done, instead of just sitting around and complaining about having a boring life. So I pretty much like to make it up. I’d rather tell a story about somebody else.

Courage is knowing what not to fear.

It’s like a jar of salad dressing sitting on a shelf… most of the seasoning settles to the bottom of the bottle. But when you shake that bottle up, all the ingredients mix together and then the dressing can add flavor to a salad. In the same way, we can stir ourselves up and regain the reverence, respect and awe we once had for the Lord.