Everybody born comes from the Creator trailing wisps of glory. We come from the Creator with creativity. I think that each one of us is born with creativity.

O, had I but followed the arts!

Sectional football games have the glory and the despair of war, and when a Texas team takes the field against a foreign state, it is an army with banners.

All art is but imitation of nature.

I love the name of honor, more than I fear death.

I don’t invest in ideas because ideas are a dime a dozen. I could steal the idea pretty quickly.

The arts are not a way to make a living. They are a very human way of making life more bearable. Practicing an art, no matter how well or badly, is a way to make your soul grow, for heaven’s sake.

You are never too young to learn, never too old to change.

I made all my generals out of mud.

Life begins on the other side of despair.

I think the idea of art kills creativity.

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.

Love is the flower you’ve got to let grow.

A home without books is a body without soul.

The art which we may call generally art of the wayside, as opposed to that which is the business of men’s lives, is, in the best sense of the word, Grotesque.

Few people have the imagination for reality.

When I was making ‚Star Wars,‘ I wasn’t restrained by any kind of science. I simply said, ‚I’m going to create a world that’s fun and interesting, makes sense, and seems to have a reality to it.‘

When you show deep empathy toward others, their defensive energy goes down, and positive energy replaces it. That’s when you can get more creative in solving problems.

Let freedom reign. The sun never set on so glorious a human achievement.

Never deprive someone of hope; it might be all they have.

When I’m in the studio, I’m looking for creativity I haven’t matched yet, a feeling I haven’t felt. It’s a high.

As the poet said, ‚Only God can make a tree,‘ probably because it’s so hard to figure out how to get the bark on.

Many times, we miss out on God’s best because we give up too soon. We don’t realize how close we are to victory.

The most pathetic person in the world is someone who has sight, but has no vision.

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

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.

Eating words has never given me indigestion.

I think the reason my stories have been so successful is that I have a strong sense of metaphor.

Without freedom, no art; art lives only on the restraints it imposes on itself, and dies of all others.

Poetry surrounds us everywhere, but putting it on paper is, alas, not so easy as looking at it.

I’ve had two cancer bouts in my years on the Court, and the first one, Justice O’Connor told me, ‚Now, you do the chemotherapy on Friday because you’ll get over it during the weekend and you can be back in court on Monday.‘

Art raises its head where creeds relax.

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

My mother is a strong, wonderful woman. I could never be anything she didn’t want me to be.

Since I was old enough to understand what a songwriter/producer is, I’ve had a curiosity about how Max Martin creates what he creates. I wanted to see that happen. I wanted to be there. I wanted to learn from him.

Just as our eyes need light in order to see, our minds need ideas in order to conceive.

Glory lies in the attempt to reach one’s goal and not in reaching it.

I really started writing music to challenge myself, to see what I could write.

Step with care and great tact, and remember that Life’s a Great Balancing Act.

Writing for other artists helped me figure out that magic you have to capture to make everyone connect with a song.

Good leadership consists of showing average people how to do the work of superior people.

I draw from the crowd a lot.

Software constraints are only confining if you use them for what they’re intended to be used for.

There is but one law for all, namely that law which governs all law, the law of our Creator, the law of humanity, justice, equity – the law of nature and of nations.

Glory is fleeting, but obscurity is forever.

Thanks to my reading, I have never been caught flat-footed by any situation, never at a loss for how any problem has been addressed… It doesn’t give me all the answers, but it lights what is often a dark path ahead.

You must stay drunk on writing so reality cannot destroy you.

If I’m inspired to make a certain kind of song, I’m going to make that kind of song, no matter if it’s what they know me as or think I am.

I’ve had quite a lot of luck with dreams. I’ve often awoken in the night with a phrase or even a whole song in my head.

Inaction breeds doubt and fear. Action breeds confidence and courage. If you want to conquer fear, do not sit home and think about it. Go out and get busy.

All intelligent thoughts have already been thought; what is necessary is only to try to think them again.

A song has to take on character, shape, body and influence people to an extent that they use it for their own devices. It must affect them not just as a song, but as a lifestyle.

It is the supreme art of the teacher to awaken joy in creative expression and knowledge.

In art the best is good enough.

What sculpture is to a block of marble, education is to the soul.

The great fun in my life has been getting up every morning and rushing to the typewriter because some new idea has hit me.

Listen; there’s a hell of a good universe next door: let’s go.

For me, money is not my definition of success. Inspiring people is a definition of success.

I think one of my pursuits over the years is trying to answer the question of, ‚What else can you do with a voice other than stand in front of a microphone and sing?‘

Life is one grand, sweet song, so start the music.

If a man knows not what harbor he seeks, any wind is the right wind.