Great art is the contempt of a great man for small art.

You can’t wait for inspiration. You have to go after it with a club.

Whenever death may surprise us, let it be welcome if our battle cry has reached even one receptive ear and another hand reaches out to take up our arms.

If you enjoy living, it is not difficult to keep the sense of wonder.

I go to cancer wards, and I tell them guys, ‚I’ve beaten it. You can, too.‘

I think you get most of the most interesting work done in fields where people don’t think they’re doing art but are merely practicing a craft and working as good craftsmen. Being literate as a writer is good craft, is knowing your job, is knowing how to use your tools properly and not to damage the tools as you use them.

When I do a picture and it’s 90% black, like ‚Bird,‘ I use 90% black people.

My dear friend, clear your mind of cant.

Life doesn’t imitate art, it imitates bad television.

What kind of people do they think we are? Is it possible they do not realize that we shall never cease to persevere against them until they have been taught a lesson which they and the world will never forget?

From wonder into wonder existence opens.

Where the spirit does not work with the hand, there is no art.

Dreams are the touchstones of our character.

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

My stories run up and bite me on the leg – I respond by writing down everything that goes on during the bite. When I finish, the idea lets go and runs off.

Great men, unknown to their generation, have their fame among the great who have preceded them, and all true worldly fame subsides from their high estimate beyond the stars.

As human beings, our greatness lies not so much in being able to remake the world – that is the myth of the atomic age – as in being able to remake ourselves.

To those of you who received honours, awards and distinctions, I say well done. And to the C students, I say you, too, can be president of the United States.

The future is called ‚perhaps‘, which is the only possible thing to call the future. And the important thing is not to allow that to scare you.

Whatever you want to do, if you want to be great at it, you have to love it and be able to make sacrifices for it.

It’s good to wander into the studio and walk out with something that’s better than you’d imagined it to be. If everything was as you imagined it to be, it just wouldn’t be as much fun.

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

Prince Charles is definitely my hero; he uses his position to do only good in this world.

Nay, be a Columbus to whole new continents and worlds within you, opening new channels, not of trade, but of thought.

A home without books is a body without soul.

Well, in order for me to be successful… In order to be a great artist – musician, actor, painter, whatever – you must be able to be private in public at all times.

A musician must make music, an artist must paint, a poet must write, if he is to be ultimately at peace with himself.

There are two kinds of teachers: the kind that fill you with so much quail shot that you can’t move, and the kind that just gives you a little prod behind and you jump to the skies.

The dreams and passions stored within hearts are powerful keys which can unlock a wealth of potential.

I am the greatest, I said that even before I knew I was.

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

I always use Michael as, first and foremost, a vocal inspiration, and ‚Off the Wall‘ was definitely the one that made me feel like I could sing.

When I got depressed, I watched Bruce Lee movies. I learned everything from Bruce Lee.

Don’t you love it that Prince doesn’t use Twitter? Don’t you think he’s somewhere on a unicorn?

Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.

Sports are basically our way of feeling sorry for ourselves. Most men can’t become athletes. We’re watching guys who actually made it. We see them dunking and making touchdowns. Then we think about ourselves when we were younger.

I write some country music. There’s a song called ‚I Hope You Dance.‘ Incredible. I was going to write that poem; somebody beat me to it.

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.

And poets, in my view, and I think the view of most people, do speak God’s language – it’s better, it’s finer, it’s language on a higher plane than ordinary people speak in their daily lives.

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

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

I use my celebrity status to inspire someone, to give them hope.

Anyone can be a Superman, but nobody can be Jackie Chan.

No great genius has ever existed without some touch of madness.

Hide not your talents. They for use were made. What’s a sundial in the shade?

I don’t know that much about who directs what movies, but I’m definitely inspired by the look of old movies; I find them to be really beautiful.

A man may die, nations may rise and fall, but an idea lives on.

I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat.

I’m not a big believer in trying to jam stuff down somebody’s throat: ‚You’re going to do it my way.‘ I’d rather show by example and live my life and have people say, ‚You know what, I want to live like Joel has. He’s got peace and joy, and he seems content.‘

O! for a muse of fire, that would ascend the brightest heaven of invention.

Every man, and for stronger reasons, every artist, wants to be recognized. So do I.

What I’ve discovered is that in art, as in music, there’s a lot of truth-and then there’s a lie. The artist is essentially creating his work to make this lie a truth, but he slides it in amongst all the others. The tiny little lie is the moment I live for, my moment. It’s the moment that the audience falls in love.

The genesis of a poem for me is usually a cluster of words. The only good metaphor I can think of is a scientific one: dipping a thread into a supersaturated solution to induce crystal formation. I don’t think I solve problems in my poetry; I think I uncover the problems.

I don’t really have a gimmick or a ‚thing.‘ I’m one of the few artists who gets to be himself every day.

Always do whatever’s next.

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.

Desperation is sometimes as powerful an inspirer as genius.

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

For a true writer, each book should be a new beginning where he tries again for something that is beyond attainment. He should always try for something that has never been done or that others have tried and failed. Then sometimes, with great luck, he will succeed.

I always dreamt of holding the bat and winning games for India. That was my inspiration to take up cricket.