Creativity is just connecting things. When you ask creative people how they did something, they feel a little guilty because they didn’t really do it, they just saw something. It seemed obvious to them after a while. That’s because they were able to connect experiences they’ve had and synthesize new things.

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 ain’t never far away from a pencil and paper or a tape recorder.

A word is dead when it is said, some say. I say it just begins to live that day.

I have trouble imagining what I could do that’s beyond the practicality of what I can do.

Vulnerability is the birthplace of connection and the path to the feeling of worthiness. If it doesn’t feel vulnerable, the sharing is probably not constructive.

I believe that if you show people the problems and you show them the solutions they will be moved to act.

No sanction can stand against ignited minds.

When you see something that is technically sweet, you go ahead and do it and you argue about what to do about it only after you have had your technical success. That is the way it was with the atomic bomb.

Leaders must invoke an alchemy of great vision.

In order to fly, all one must do is simply miss the ground.

‚Recreative‘ is a word that I invented because in urban culture, with colloquialism, we invent so many slangs. I don’t like the way that ‚recreational‘ sounds – I don’t like to say I do a lot of ‚recreational‘ reading. I like to say that I read ‚recreatively.‘ I do a lot of ‚recreative‘ reading.

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

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

We allow no geniuses around our Studio.

Music is well said to be the speech of angels.

I’ve always been amazed by Da Vinci, because he worked out science on his own. He would work by drawing things and writing down his ideas. Of course, he designed all sorts of flying machines way before you could actually build something like that.

Intellectual property has the shelf life of a banana.

Flying cars are not a very efficient way to move things from one point to another.

I really wanted to break the mold of what modern touring is right now.

You can write a song about being in love with someone, but you don’t have to be in love with anyone.

The doors of wisdom are never shut.

I’m a Silicon Valley guy. I just think people from Silicon Valley can do anything.

We can never learn too much of His will towards us, too much of His messages and His advice. The Bible is His word and its study gives at once the foundation for our faith and an inspiration to battle onward in the fight against the tempter.

Culture makes people understand each other better. And if they understand each other better in their soul, it is easier to overcome the economic and political barriers. But first they have to understand that their neighbour is, in the end, just like them, with the same problems, the same questions.

Anything you put your mind to and add your imagination into can make your life a lot better and a lot more fun.

I’m always interested in what you can do with technology that people haven’t thought of doing yet.

I have certain guys who I looked up to. Jordan, Kobe, those guys. Passing that on to doing my part to kind of keep that influence of basketball where it should be is kind of why I play the game.

I think it all comes back to being very selfish as an artist. I mean, I really do just write and record what interests me and I do approach the stage shows in much the same way.

I am enough of an artist to draw freely upon my imagination.

One often makes music to supplement one’s world.

I’ve noticed a lot of younger artists have less fear of doing different sorts of things, whether it’s various types of music, or gallery artists moving between video and sculpture and drawing.

Men do not shape destiny, Destiny produces the man for the hour.

There’s no formula.

Logic will get you from A to B. Imagination will take you everywhere.

When you cease to make a contribution, you begin to die.

We know that the nation that goes all-in on innovation today will own the global economy tomorrow. This is an edge America cannot surrender.

I guess I’m just inspired to tell stories.

If a man can… make a better mousetrap, the world will make a beaten path to his door.

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.

We will explore the mysteries of science and harness the power of technology and innovation. We will realise the opportunities of the digital world. Our youth will learn more from – and with – each other.

What we want to be is something completely new. There is no physical analog for what Amazon.com is becoming.

Forces that you might think are utterly unrelated to creativity can have a big impact. Technology, obviously, but environment, too. Even financial structures can affect the actual content of a song. The making of music is profoundly affected by the market.

And the idea of just wandering off to a cafe with a notebook and writing and seeing where that takes me for awhile is just bliss.

I’m a writer, and I will write what I want to write.

The most important thing is to try and inspire people so that they can be great in whatever they want to do.

Leaders must be close enough to relate to others, but far enough ahead to motivate them.

Right now, we don’t have a very good relation with creation.

If I get stuck, I look at a book that tells me how someone else did it. I turn the pages, and then I say, ‚Oh, I forgot that bit,‘ then close the book and carry on. Finally, after you’ve figured out how to do it, you read how they did it and find out how dumb your solution is and how much more clever and efficient theirs is!

I’m never going to go to Mars, but I’ve helped inspire, thank goodness, the people who built the rockets and sent our photographic equipment off to Mars.

Practically everybody in New York has half a mind to write a book, and does.

What my character is or how many jails I have lounged in, or wards or walls or wassails, how many lonely-heart poetry readings I have dodged, is beside the point. A man’s soul or lack of it will be evident with what he can carve upon a white sheet of paper.

Every man I meet is in some way my superior.

If you are lucky enough to find something that you love, and you have a shot at being good at it, don’t stop, don’t put it down.

Without Cambodia, I may never have become a mother. Part of my heart is and will always be in this country. And part of this country is always with me: Maddox.

A book must be the ax for the frozen sea within us.

Cast away your sloth, your lethargy, your coldness, or whatever interferes with your chaste and pure love for Christ, your soul’s husband. Make Him the source, the center, and the circumference of all your soul’s range of delight.

What I have in common with the character in ‚Truman‘ is this incredible need to please people. I feel like I want to take care of everyone and I also feel this terrible guilt if I am unable to. And I have felt this way ever since all this success started.

When Hillary was First Lady, we went to the Beijing Women’s Conference. She courageously stood up and spoke out on behalf of human rights and women’s rights, inspiring millions to fight for a better future.

You know, watching Dan Marino and Steve Young get nominated to the Hall of Fame… those guys are unbelievable and they did it for so long. I’d love to play like those guys, but there’s still a long way to go and a lot of growing.

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.