Even if you have nothing to write, write and say so.

Make the most of yourself, for that is all there is of you.

If you pour your life into songs, you want them to be heard. It’s a desire to communicate. A deep desire to communicate inspires songwriting.

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.

Imagination will often carry us to worlds that never were. But without it we go nowhere.

Life can be boring unless you put some effort into it.

I wish I could play bass like Larry Graham or Bootsy Collins. My God, I’d give up just about everything else for that.

It will be found, in fact, that the ingenious are always fanciful, and the truly imaginative never otherwise than analytic.

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

If you are first you are first. If you are second you are nothing.

Forward, as occasion offers. Never look round to see whether any shall note it… Be satisfied with success in even the smallest matter, and think that even such a result is no trifle.

Satisfaction lies in the effort, not in the attainment, full effort is full victory.

Music, in performance, is a type of sculpture. The air in the performance is sculpted into something.

Success is the child of audacity.

Take time to deliberate, but when the time for action has arrived, stop thinking and go in.

I love making music. That’s what I love to do. So I don’t feel like there’s any need to take a break unless I want to.

I believe you never get tired by doing work. You get tired when you don’t work. When you clean your house, you don’t get tired; it gives you satisfaction.

There’s no point in starting a business unless you’re going to make a dramatic difference to other people’s lives. So if you’ve got an idea that’s gonna make a big difference to other people’s lives, then just get on and do it.

Next to excellence is the appreciation of it.

I hated every minute of training, but I said, ‚Don’t quit. Suffer now and live the rest of your life as a champion.‘

The sun is gone, but I have a light.

Vitality shows in not only the ability to persist but the ability to start over.

While I take inspiration from the past, like most Americans, I live for the future.

We like to think about how smart we are. But I think talent as a writer is hard-wired in, it’s all there, at least the basic elements of it. You can’t change it any more than you can choose whether to be right handed or left handed.

When defeat comes, accept it as a signal that your plans are not sound, rebuild those plans, and set sail once more toward your coveted goal.

Before I do anything, I think, well what hasn’t been seen. Sometimes, that turns out to be something ghastly and not fit for society. And sometimes that inspiration becomes something that’s really worthwhile.

Basketball is booming, and it’s not just an Under Armour standpoint: it’s about the game itself. Kids going out and playing and being inspired by what we do on the court.

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.

For me to talk with Obama and the conversation I had with him, I was letting him know that me and my fans have a special connection, and it’s love, and I believe that love is the answer.

The important work of moving the world forward does not wait to be done by perfect men.

I must have a prodigious quantity of mind; it takes me as much as a week sometimes to make it up.

I have tried for much of my life to write as if I was composing my sentences to be read posthumously.

I tell everybody, I get so much because I give so much. I give freely, I give all my time, give all my money, give all of my soul. I try to motivate people. I try to inspire them.

There is a fundamental question we all have to face. How are we to live our lives; by what principles and moral values will we be guided and inspired?

The world is full of magical things patiently waiting for our wits to grow sharper.

Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds.

There is one thing that gets you out of bed in the morning, and that is discipline. Because your dreams and your goals are not there waking up for you in the morning.

For me, the essence of the great American Dream is spiritual. I believe that our Constitution is inspired and that it is based on principles that are timeless and universal. This is the reason why 95% of all written constitutions throughout the world are modeled after our Constitution.

I had writer’s block for almost a year.

Work is the meat of life, pleasure the dessert.

I want to appeal to everyone. Because I’m not saying I’m the best, but we the best.

You don’t learn to walk by following rules. You learn by doing, and by falling over.

I know a lot of artists say this, but it’s hard to put myself in a box. I just write songs that I strongly believe in and that are coming form a special place. There’s no tricks.

Objects in pictures should so be arranged as by their very position to tell their own story.

What counts is not necessarily the size of the dog in the fight – it’s the size of the fight in the dog.

Wit is the sudden marriage of ideas which, before their union, were not perceived to have any relation.

Never confuse a single defeat with a final defeat.

To keep the business going, you gotta keep it boomin‘.

Helped are those who create anything at all, for they shall relive the thrill of their own conception and realize a partnership in the creation of the Universe that keeps them responsible and cheerful.

All good art is an indiscretion.

Self-pity is our worst enemy and if we yield to it, we can never do anything wise in this world.

The way to get started is to quit talking and begin doing.

No idea is so outlandish that it should not be considered with a searching but at the same time a steady eye.

I never had to choose a subject – my subject rather chose me.

Don’t be afraid to give up the good to go for the great.

If you don’t have the time to read, you don’t have the time or the tools to write.

I’ve always written songs the same way. You learn different tricks – you learn craft, you learn structure, all that – as you go.

I love the song ‚I Hope You Dance‘ by Lee Ann Womack. I was going to write that song, but someone beat me to it.

It’s not the load that breaks you down, it’s the way you carry it.

Eating words has never given me indigestion.

To hell with circumstances; I create opportunities.