All of my writing is God-given.

One can be instructed in society, one is inspired only in solitude.

I wrote a few children’s books… not on purpose.

When I have a terrible need of – shall I say the word – religion. Then I go out and paint the stars.

A subject for a great poet would be God’s boredom after the seventh day of creation.

We must not reduce the bosom of the universal church to a nest protecting our mediocrity.

People always say when they meet me that I’m not what they expect. I assume they think I’m this super dark and depressing guy, but I like to channel all of those emotions into my work.

The way to know life is to love many things.

I’d like to think you don’t stop being creative once you get happy.

The Christian life is not a constant high. I have my moments of deep discouragement. I have to go to God in prayer with tears in my eyes, and say, ‚O God, forgive me,‘ or ‚Help me.‘

We write for the same reason that we walk, talk, climb mountains or swim the oceans – because we can. We have some impulse within us that makes us want to explain ourselves to other human beings. That’s why we paint, that’s why we dare to love someone – because we have the impulse to explain who we are.

I used to like to set different film clips to classical music, not even my own songs, but make little movies.

As much as I love the Western genre, I figured if I kept doing those, I’d eventually run out of steam on that, and that would’ve been the end of it.

I love to see a young girl go out and grab the world by the lapels.

A vow is a purely religious act which cannot be taken in a fit of passion. It can be taken only with a mind purified and composed and with God as witness.

I cry very easily. It can be a movie, a phone conversation, a sunset – tears are words waiting to be written.

Anyone can be a Superman, but nobody can be Jackie Chan.

All of my records, I produced, put together completely. All of them. Maybe Drake might come with an idea, and I might finish it. You gotta remember what a producer is. Quincy Jones is a producer.

I like being a writer.

When you’re coming up with new material, it’s not always gonna be good. The only way to learn is for it not to get a laugh, so you can adjust it and come back the next day to see if it’s working right. Next time, you might get a different laugh. You’re constantly rebuilding.

Many are they who have a taste and love for drawing, but no talent; and this will be discernible in boys who are not diligent and never finish their drawings with shading.

I pledge allegiance to the Christian flag, and to the Savior, for whose Kingdom it stands, one Savior, crucified, risen, and coming again, with life and liberty for all who believe.

All the good music has already been written by people with wigs and stuff.

First of all, you ask me if the God of Christians forgives one who doesn’t believe and doesn’t seek the faith. Premise that – and it’s the fundamental thing – the mercy of God has no limits if one turns to him with a sincere and contrite heart; the question for one who doesn’t believe in God lies in obeying one’s conscience.

We shall never know all the good that a simple smile can do.

Worshipping is stripping ourselves of our idols, even the most hidden ones, and choosing the Lord as the centre, as the highway of our lives.

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

Artistic temperament is the disease that afflicts amateurs.

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.

I think that by staying true to myself and making music from my heart, the blessings come.

The best author will be the one who is ashamed to become a writer.

I want to be an honest man and a good writer.

I’m a Christian by choice.

I know of no single formula for success. But over the years I have observed that some attributes of leadership are universal and are often about finding ways of encouraging people to combine their efforts, their talents, their insights, their enthusiasm and their inspiration to work together.

When everything works best, it’s not because you chose writing but because writing chose you. It’s when you’re mad with it, it’s when it’s stuffed in your ears, your nostrils, under your fingernails. It’s when there’s no hope but that.

To raise new questions, new possibilities, to regard old problems from a new angle, requires creative imagination and marks real advance in science.

I feel like in my music I can be a rebel. I can say things I wouldn’t say in real life.

God and I have a great relationship, but we both see other people.

I write books back to back, and I work very hard on them.

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

I’m still in love with what I do, with the idea of making things up, so hours when I write always feel like very blessed hours to me.

Creative output, you know, is just pain. I’m going to be cliche for a minute and say that great art comes from pain.

I believe in God – not in a Catholic God; there is no Catholic God. There is God, and I believe in Jesus Christ, his incarnation. Jesus is my teacher and my pastor, but God, the Father, Abba, is the light and the Creator. This is my Being.

To be a Christian without prayer is no more possible than to be alive without breathing.

I would love to continue in music, with writing… but I am not the kind of person who will hang around if I start to become irrelevant. If that happens, I will bow down gracefully, raise my kids, and have a garden. And I am going to let my hair go gray when I am older. I don’t need to be blonde when I’m 60!

When words are scarce they are seldom spent in vain.

Are creeds such simple things like the clothes which a man can change at will and put on at will? Creeds are such for which people live for ages and ages.

And know that I am with you always; yes, to the end of time.

Refuse to be a lazy Christian, and resist a passive, apathetic attitude.

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.

Writers write to influence their readers, their preachers, their auditors, but always, at bottom, to be more themselves.

The purest and most thoughtful minds are those which love colour the most.

I love to watch videos, and I’ve always liked to film and take pictures. I have an eye for really weird things that nobody thinks about. I used to make little movies about myself and then edit them on iMovie.

It doesn’t matter who likes you or doesn’t like you, all that matters is that God likes you. He accepts you, he approves of you.

Religious organizations exist to foster the interests of persons subscribing to the same religious faith. Not so of for-profit corporations. Workers who sustain the operations of those corporations commonly are not drawn from one religious community.

I work very hard, but when God opens that door for you – when life opens that door for you, I should say – I think it’s important to be giving, to return the love back.

Music should strike fire from the heart of man, and bring tears from the eyes of woman.

I woke up one day and thought: ‚I want to write a book about the history of my body.‘ I could justify talking about my mother because it was in her body that my body began.

God enters by a private door into every individual.

I know that I’ve been guided by God. I am obedient.

The men who have guided the destiny of the United States have found the strength for their tasks by going to their knees. This private unity of public men and their God is an enduring source of reassurance for the people of America.