I became interested in folk music because I had to make it somehow.

Genius… means little more than the faculty of perceiving in an unhabitual way.

My mission in life is not merely to survive, but to thrive; and to do so with some passion, some compassion, some humor, and some style.

Good ideas are free – or at least they should be.

There are only two forces that unite men – fear and interest.

I think that, whatever happens, I’m just happy I’ve written those songs and I’ve made an album. That’s really big for me, and I’m proud of that.

When it comes down to it, glam rock was all very amusing. At the time, it was funny, then a few years later it became sort of serious-looking and a bit foreboding.

I love my job, but it’s more than that: I need it.

If you do things, whether it’s acting or music or painting, do it without fear – that’s my philosophy. Because nobody can arrest you and put you in jail if you paint badly, so there’s nothing to lose.

Thought is the wind and knowledge the sail.

No great man lives in vain. The history of the world is but the biography of great men.

Mariah and Whitney Houston were my goddesses growing up.

I was always interested – I mean, it’s kind of part of your job – I was always interested in the camera.

I really want a movie made on Sachin Tendulkar’s life. That is something I’m looking forward to. There will be so much emotion to that movie.

All great art is the work of the whole living creature, body and soul, and chiefly of the soul.

Great geniuses have the shortest biographies.

I guess I’m just inspired to tell stories.

However difficult life may seem, there is always something you can do and succeed at.

Music with dinner is an insult both to the cook and the violinist.

There’s always gonna be rock n‘ roll bands, there’s always gonna be kids that love rock n‘ roll records, and there will always be rock n‘ roll.

Frankly, I mean, sometimes the interpretations I’ve seen on some of the songs that I’ve written are a lot more interesting than the input that I put in.

Cause I’m a musician, I’m not really good at posing and being a model, like, modeling.

Find your voice and inspire others to find theirs.

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

Part of what made the Macintosh great was that the people working on it were musicians, poets, and artists, and zoologists, and historians. They also happened to be the best computer scientists in the world. But if it hadn’t been computer science, these people would have been doing amazing things in other fields.

Though I do not believe that a plant will spring up where no seed has been, I have great faith in a seed… Convince me that you have a seed there, and I am prepared to expect wonders.

You ask me if I keep a notebook to record my great ideas. I’ve only ever had one.

When art dresses in worn-out material it is most easily recognized as art.

Nobody should come to the movies unless he believes in heroes.

I do things I love doing. Sometimes that is maybe going out to have a drink with friends, going out partying or whatever.

Even if you’re on the right track, you’ll get run over if you just sit there.

I’m trying to show everybody that I’m a girl, and I’m five foot four, and you can do anything you want, no matter your gender. It’s your world, too!

Today, I’d like to talk to Bob Marley. I’d just like to ask him what was his method. Bob is one of the greatest songwriters ever. I don’t know if people understand how powerful his songs are and the simplicity and genius behind them, from ‚Redemption Song‘ to ‚Is This Love?‘ and ‚I Shot the Sheriff.‘

You should treat a muse like a fairy.

If you’re waiting for the perfect moment, you’ll never write a thing because it will never arrive. I have no routine. I have no foolproof anything. There’s nothing foolproof.

It’s hard work making movies. It’s like being a doctor: you work long hours, very hard hours, and it’s emotional, tense work. If you don’t really love it, then it ain’t worth it.

The joy and love that I get from playing football are unbelievable. It is such a feeling that I want to give everything that I have got. I just enjoy it, I am living a life that I never even dreamt of.

I would love to get Rihanna on a Khaled song. That’s my friend, but every time I’m around her, I get shy.

I can say I’d honestly rather be happy than have 30 to 40 songs that I’ve written about these thrilling, exciting, horrible, unhappy times.

The fame isn’t important to me. It’s a blessing to have. Having so many people that support me, that love me and listen to my music, is beautiful.

Labor gives birth to ideas.

When I say ‚Crush your enemy‘, I don’t literally mean it.

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

I used to – my earliest memory of waking up with a melody in my head was, you know, 8, 9, 10. I’ve always heard kind of melodies in my head.

What I like about music is the songs you can remember the lines of in a single second.

I need music. It’s like my heartbeat, so to speak. It keeps me going no matter what’s going on – bad games, press, whatever!

If I’d had good discipline, I might have gone into music.

Wisdom begins in wonder.

I’ve made money, and I’ve been ripped off. I’ve had creative freedom, and I’ve been pressured to make hits. I have dealt with diva behavior from crazy musicians, and I have seen genius records by wonderful artists get completely ignored. I love music. I always will.

The artist forges himself to the others, midway between the beauty he cannot do without and the community he cannot tear himself away from. That is why true artists scorn nothing: they are obliged to understand rather than to judge.

Five or six songs leaked from the original version of ‚Encore.‘ So I had to go in and make new songs to replace them.

The sound and music are 50% of the entertainment in a movie.

Imagination is everything. It is the preview of life’s coming attractions.

I think sometimes – not always – I write songs that are accessible.

Blessed is the influence of one true, loving human soul on another.

He is the greatest artist who has embodied, in the sum of his works, the greatest number of the greatest ideas.

Once I get on a puzzle, I can’t get off.

The bird is powered by its own life and by its motivation.

The book that convinced me I wanted to be a writer was ‚Crime and Punishment‘. I put the thing down after reading it in a fever over two or three days… I said, ‚If this is what a book can be, then that is what I want to do.‘

I’ve always wanted to make a career in the arts, and I think that my only hope at doing that is to make it more about the work.

We love things we love what they are.