Don’t only practice your art, but force your way into its secrets; art deserves that, for it and knowledge can raise man to the Divine.

Drawing is the honesty of the art. There is no possibility of cheating. It is either good or bad.

One of the wonderful things about Oprah: She teaches you to keep on stepping.

You can’t do it unless you can imagine it.

Facts are stubborn things.

God enters by a private door into every individual.

Speak the truth, do not yield to anger; give, if thou art asked for little; by these three steps thou wilt go near the gods.

A day without laughter is a day wasted.

A wise man is cured of ambition by ambition itself; his aim is so exalted that riches, office, fortune and favour cannot satisfy him.

I’ve written some great things. That’s a gift, but there’s consequences. Yeah, you get this great work, but you suffer. You really, really suffer.

There are phases in life which surface at times, and it makes you understand that despite you working hard, everything what you are doing is probably not enough. That’s when you need to look around, and beyond.

We are not retreating – we are advancing in another direction.

When I was 8 years old, I saw ‚Raiders of the Lost Ark‘ in Charlotte, North Carolina. I walked out of there and was so inspired. I loved the movie, and I knew I wanted to be that guy.

God always wants us to be growing.

All men are prepared to accomplish the incredible if their ideals are threatened.

Learning is the beginning of wealth. Learning is the beginning of health. Learning is the beginning of spirituality. Searching and learning is where the miracle process all begins.

Because, you know, resilience – if you think of it in terms of the Gold Rush, then you’d be pretty depressed right now because the last nugget of gold would be gone. But the good thing is, with innovation, there isn’t a last nugget. Every new thing creates two new questions and two new opportunities.

Get up, stand up, Stand up for your rights. Get up, stand up, Don’t give up the fight.

The price of greatness is responsibility.

Never lose an opportunity of seeing anything beautiful, for beauty is God’s handwriting.

When words are scarce they are seldom spent in vain.

Do what nobody else can do for you. Omit to do anything else.

Religion is the recognition of all our duties as divine commands.

It has always been my belief that a man should do his best, regardless of how much he receives for his services, or the number of people he may be serving or the class of people served.

I think I’m pretty smart. I think I’m pretty clever. But there’s a lot that you hone in on when you finish your education.

Ability is what you’re capable of doing. Motivation determines what you do. Attitude determines how well you do it.

You’re not a product of your nature. That is your genetic makeup or your nurture, the things that have happened to you. Of course those things affect you powerfully, but they do not determine you.

I never start out with any kind of connecting theme or plan. Everything just falls the way it falls. I don’t ever think about what kind of fiction I write or what I am writing about or what I am trying to write about. When I’m writing, what I do is I think about a story that I want to tell.

Oh, you weak, beautiful people who give up with such grace. What you need is someone to take hold of you – gently, with love, and hand your life back to you.

I need to keep working on myself for a while.

Music was an experience, intimately married to your life. You could pay to hear music, but after you did, it was over, gone – a memory.

No one even knows one percent of the fabulous history of Man; but thanks to history, we know about occurrences that go beyond the limits of the imaginable.

I myself would like to become more disciplined within my work.

Freedom from effort in the present merely means that there has been effort stored up in the past.

I never woke up and thought, ‚I really want to live a bold life.‘

If you keep proving stuff that others have done, getting confidence, increasing the complexities of your solutions – for the fun of it – then one day you’ll turn around and discover that nobody actually did that one!

Genius, when young, is divine.

I like to listen. I have learned a great deal from listening carefully. Most people never listen.

For instance, I’m always fascinated to see whether, given the kind of fairly known and established form called popular music, whether there is some magic combination that nobody has hit upon before.

A masterpiece is something said once and for all, stated, finished, so that it’s there complete in the mind, if only at the back.

To penetrate and dissipate these clouds of darkness, the general mind must be strengthened by education.

My father always taught me that when you help other people, then God will give you double. And that’s what has really happened to me. When I have helped other people who are in need, God has helped me more.

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

It is better to conquer yourself than to win a thousand battles. Then the victory is yours. It cannot be taken from you, not by angels or by demons, heaven or hell.

Don’t be afraid to give your best to what seemingly are small jobs. Every time you conquer one it makes you that much stronger. If you do the little jobs well, the big ones will tend to take care of themselves.

There are still many causes worth sacrificing for, so much history yet to be made.

Every great person is always being helped by everybody; for their gift is to get good out of all things and all persons.

The job of the artist is always to deepen the mystery.

I want to put a ding in the universe.

All theory, dear friend, is gray, but the golden tree of life springs ever green.

By imposing too great a responsibility, or rather, all responsibility, on yourself, you crush yourself.

One can never consent to creep when one feels an impulse to soar.

Reflect upon your present blessings of which every man has many – not on your past misfortunes, of which all men have some.

In art the best is good enough.

The sun is gone, but I have a light.

You’re just left with yourself all the time, whatever you do anyway. You’ve got to get down to your own God in your own temple. It’s all down to you, mate.

The only really committed artist is he who, without refusing to take part in the combat, at least refuses to join the regular armies and remains a freelance.

If you reveal your secrets to the wind, you should not blame the wind for revealing them to the trees.

History shows that the majority of people that have done anything great have passed their youth in seclusion.

Man has two great spiritual needs. One is for forgiveness. The other is for goodness.

It is better to be alone than in bad company.