Almost everything that is great has been done by youth.

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.

If I wish to compose or write or pray or preach well, I must be angry. Then all the blood in my veins is stirred, and my understanding is sharpened.

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

Who is more to be pitied, a writer bound and gagged by policemen or one living in perfect freedom who has nothing more to say?

I’m glad a genre writer has got a knighthood, but stunned that it was me.

Poverty is a veil that obscures the face of greatness. An appeal is a mask covering the face of tribulation.

I guess we all like to be recognized not for one piece of fireworks, but for the ledger of our daily work.

These young guys are playing checkers. I’m out there playing chess.

Great men are like eagles, and build their nest on some lofty solitude.

There wasn’t much as a kid that inspired me in what I did as an adult, but I was always very interested in what motivates people, and in telling stories and building things.

At 57, to have a No. 1 album, I wasn’t expecting it.

Believe it or not, I was just given an honorary doctorate degree from the University of Tennessee.

Poetry is the key to the hieroglyphics of nature.

As soon as I accomplish one goal, I replace it with another one. I try not to get too far ahead of myself. I just say to myself, ‚All right, well, I’d like to headline a tour,‘ and then when I get there, we’ll see what my next goal is.

But when I hear a great song, I can’t help but be inspired by it, regardless of whatever genre that song falls under.

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.

Poetry is the art of substantiating shadows, and of lending existence to nothing.

The revolution has always been in the hands of the young. The young always inherit the revolution.

I have the ’77 Million Paintings‘ running in my studio a lot of the time. Occasionally I’ll look up from what I’m doing and I think, ‚God, I’ve never seen anything like that before!‘ And that’s a real thrill.

I’m not a prophet or a stone aged man, just a mortal with potential of a superman. I’m living on.

Always have something beautiful in sight, even if it’s just a daisy in a jelly glass.

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

I’m sure everyone knows now that only a few have performed in Madison Square Garden. That list is so small. Now I’m on that list. I’m a part of a very small group, which is unbelievable. You relish in that moment for a second.

A brand for a company is like a reputation for a person. You earn reputation by trying to do hard things well.

Just as a candle cannot burn without fire, men cannot live without a spiritual life.

Keep a good attitude and do the right thing even when it’s hard. When you do that you are passing the test. And God promises you your marked moments are on their way.

Find a beautiful piece of art. If you fall in love with Van Gogh or Matisse or John Oliver Killens, or if you fall love with the music of Coltrane, the music of Aretha Franklin, or the music of Chopin – find some beautiful art and admire it, and realize that that was created by human beings just like you, no more human, no less.

I’m inspired by people who keep on rolling, no matter their age.

I just love Bowie. I think he’s the ultimate inventor.

I think a role model is a mentor – someone you see on a daily basis, and you learn from them.

With ideas it is like with dizzy heights you climb: At first they cause you discomfort and you are anxious to get down, distrustful of your own powers; but soon the remoteness of the turmoil of life and the inspiring influence of the altitude calm your blood; your step gets firm and sure and you begin to look – for dizzier heights.

You practice mindfulness, on the one hand, to be calm and peaceful. On the other hand, as you practice mindfulness and live a life of peace, you inspire hope for a future of peace.

Let others lead small lives, but not you. Let others argue over small things, but not you. Let others cry over small hurts, but not you. Let others leave their future in someone else’s hands, but not you.

If what you did yesterday seems big, you haven’t done anything today.

With self-discipline most anything is possible.

Knowledge is a polite word for dead but not buried imagination.

I’m used to seeing it, but it’s weird having an Academy Award. You usually only see one of them on the TV show when they give them out, so it’s kind of surreal to have one in your house.

The greenhorn is the ultimate victor in everything; it is he that gets the most out of life.

Those who intend on becoming great should love neither themselves nor their own things, but only what is just, whether it happens to be done by themselves or others.

Eating words has never given me indigestion.

When you draw or paint a tree, you do not imitate the tree; you do not copy it exactly as it is, which would be mere photography. To be free to paint a tree or a flower or a sunset, you have to feel what it conveys to you: the significance, the meaning of it.

As a musician and a songwriter, it is an act of the ego to believe that other people might be interested in your point of view. But it is usually an empathetic nature that gets you going in the first place. Music keeps the heart porous in many ways.

I gather from motivation around me – from a lot of personalities who have done well in their respective fields.

The task of the modern educator is not to cut down jungles, but to irrigate deserts.

The debt we owe to the play of imagination is incalculable.

Each day is a little life: every waking and rising a little birth, every fresh morning a little youth, every going to rest and sleep a little death.

To create something you must be something.

Success is neither magical nor mysterious. Success is the natural consequence of consistently applying the basic fundamentals.

The Paralympic Games is about transforming our perception of the world.

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

The cross of the Legion of Honor has been conferred on me. However, few escape that distinction.

The good parts of a book may be only something a writer is lucky enough to overhear or it may be the wreck of his whole damn life and one is as good as the other.

It is not possible for civilization to flow backwards while there is youth in the world. Youth may be headstrong, but it will advance it allotted length.

If you look at anyone who has achieved great success and wealth, people like Warren Buffett, Oprah Winfrey, or Lance Armstrong, they have all focused intensely in order to win.

When I heard ‚Jesus, Take the Wheel,‘ I was like, OK. Some people look at it as a song written for an American Idol, Carrie Underwood, who is wonderful. But when you’re a songwriter listening to a song, you hear something else. I heard that song, and wow.

At times our own light goes out and is rekindled by a spark from another person. Each of us has cause to think with deep gratitude of those who have lighted the flame within us.

The influence of ‚Hidden Fortress‘ comes up a lot because it was printed in a book once. The truth is, the only thing I was inspired by was the fact that it’s told from the point of view of two peasants, who get mixed up with a samurai and princess and a lot of very high-level people.

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

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

Stay hungry, stay foolish.