Hope is the thing with feathers that perches in the soul – and sings the tunes without the words – and never stops at all.

When I’m 40 and nobody wants to see me in a sparkly dress anymore, I’ll be like: ‚Cool, I’ll just go in the studio and write songs for kids.‘

Civil disobedience’s main goal typically is to try to arouse and inspire others to join and do something. Well, sometimes that is a good tactic, sometimes not.

When we look back on all the perils through which we have passed and at the mighty foes that we have laid low and all the dark and deadly designs that we have frustrated, why should we fear for our future? We have come safely through the worst.

We live in a culture that relishes tearing others down. It’s ultimately more fulfilling, though, to help people reach their goals. Instead of feeling jealous, remember: If God did it for them, He can do it for you.

‚Two Voices,‘ from my album with Peter Schwalm, is an intact dream-poem. I awoke one night with an image of a piece of paper and all the words of the poem written on it, so I just blundered down to the kitchen table and ‚copied it out.‘

There is no blue without yellow and without orange.

Cherish your visions and your dreams as they are the children of your soul, the blueprints of your ultimate achievements.

I want people to follow their dreams, yes… but I’m not interested in telling young black kids how to be rappers… I want to show them that there’s so many other paths you can take, besides a rapper or basketball player.

I always knew that St. Jude was an amazing organization but meeting the kids and seeing how the hospital works first hand was truly beautiful. It doesn’t feel like a regular hospital all dreary and sad. It’s a colorful, beautiful, comfortable, fun place to live and the energy is wonderful.

When younger writers and poets, musicians and painters are weakened by a stemming of funds, they come to me saddened, not as full of dreams and excitement and ideas. I am then weakened and diminished, and made less rich.

A good character is the best tombstone. Those who loved you and were helped by you will remember you when forget-me-nots have withered. Carve your name on hearts, not on marble.

The artist alone sees spirits. But after he has told of their appearing to him, everybody sees them.

When ideas fail, words come in very handy.

Keep your face to the sunshine and you cannot see a shadow.

People don’t care about what someone says about you in a movie – or even what you say, right? They care about what you build. And if you can make something that makes people’s life better, then that’s something that’s really good.

Attitude and enthusiasm play a big part in my life. I get excited about the things that inspire me. I also believe in laughing and having a good time.

Poetry is a deal of joy and pain and wonder, with a dash of the dictionary.

Extreme hopes are born from extreme misery.

Science arose from poetry… when times change the two can meet again on a higher level as friends.

Poetry is when an emotion has found its thought and the thought has found words.

The bravest person I’ve ever met was a young boy going through massive amounts of treatment for a very rare, complex and unpleasant disease. I last saw him at a Discworld convention, where he chose to take part in a game as an assassin. He died not long afterwards, and I wish I had his fortitude and sense of style.

Virtuous people often revenge themselves for the constraints to which they submit by the boredom which they inspire.

No evil dooms us hopelessly except the evil we love, and desire to continue in, and make no effort to escape from.

Let a man who has to make his fortune in life remember this maxim: Attacking is the only secret. Dare and the world yields, or if it beats you sometimes, dare it again and you will succeed.

Poetry is the art of substantiating shadows, and of lending existence to nothing.

So many people have this idea: I want to achieve something great or be somebody great. And they neglect the step that leads to greatness. They don’t honor this step at this moment because they have this idea of some future moment where they are going to be great.

Wouldn’t it be great if we could look forward to a whole world in which no child will be left behind?

Many of my fans often tell me that they listen to my songs to get through things. And therefore, obviously, I hope that they can picture being in a place where things are better… I hope my songs can bring people to a calm place.

The chief glory of every people arises from its authors.

I don’t go off and sit down and try to write material, because then it’s contrived and forced. I just live my life, and I see things in a word or a situation or a concept, and it will create a joke for me.

Thomas Jefferson once said, ‚We should never judge a president by his age, only by his works.‘ And ever since he told me that, I stopped worrying.

In America today, we are nearer a final triumph over poverty than is any other land.

Once I planned to write a book of poems entirely about the things in my pocket. But I found it would be too long; and the age of the great epics is past.

Nor shall derision prove powerful against those who listen to humanity or those who follow in the footsteps of divinity, for they shall live forever. Forever.

I just want to do God’s will. And he’s allowed me to go to the mountain. And I’ve looked over, and I’ve seen the promised land! I may not get there with you, but I want you to know tonight that we as a people will get to the promised land.

Courage is knowing what not to fear.

I try to use my experience and the fact that I grew up in the ghetto – I tell people you don’t have to rob or steal to get out of the ghetto.

Ambition can creep as well as soar.

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

I know the blessing of having a dad who played 16 years in the league. That experience, and seeing him as an example, let me know that it’s possible. It’s not easy, but it’s possible.

Because of a great love, one is courageous.

Doubt thou the stars are fire, Doubt that the sun doth move. Doubt truth to be a liar, But never doubt I love.

Ideas are the beginning points of all fortunes.

I like nonsense; it wakes up the brain cells.

Nothing is poetical if plain daylight is not poetical; and no monster should amaze us if the normal man does not amaze.

I believe that each of us comes from the Creator trailing wisps of glory.

With a tree, all the growth takes place at the growing tips. Humanity is exactly the same. All the growth takes place in the growing tip: among that one percent of the population. It’s made up of pioneers, the beginners. That’s where the action is.

I gather from motivation around me – from a lot of personalities who have done well in their respective fields.

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

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

Our moments of inspiration are not lost though we have no particular poem to show for them; for those experiences have left an indelible impression, and we are ever and anon reminded of them.

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.

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

Lo, what huge heaps of littleness around!

Most of us have far more courage than we ever dreamed we possessed.

The men I idolized built their bodies and became somebody – like Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger – and I thought, ‚That can be me.‘ So I started working out. The funny thing is I didn’t realize back then that I was having a defining moment.

America is a poem in our eyes; its ample geography dazzles the imagination, and it will not wait long for metres.

The minute you got the Nobel Peace Prize, things that I said yesterday, with nobody paying too much attention, I say the same things after I got it – oh! It was quite crucial for people, and it helped our morale because apartheid did look invincible.

Better the rudest work that tells a story or records a fact, than the richest without meaning.

I want the concentration and the romance, and the worlds all glued together, fused, glowing: have no time to waste any more on prose.