I have Dalinian thought: the one thing the world will never have enough of is the outrageous.

I’ve had mixtapes that have been better than albums I’ve heard from other artists. I take my time; I put my heart into it.

In America there’s no way I can make the kind of movie I like to make.

Those who do not want to imitate anything, produce nothing.

There are half a dozen subjects that I return to time and time again, and that doesn’t bother me. Because most of my favorite writers do that, to hunt down the same topic or theme from different directions each time.

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

What I have is a malevolent curiosity. That’s what drives my need to write and what probably leads me to look at things a little askew. I do tend to take a different perspective from most people.

All art is at once surface and symbol. Those who go beneath the surface do so at their peril. Those who read the symbol do so at their peril. It is the spectator, and not life, that art really mirrors. Diversity of opinion about a work of art shows that the work is new, complex and vital.

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.

In business, success often depends upon the relative age of your ideas.

Deep down, I know I have this intuition or instinct that a lot of creative people have, that their demons are also what make them create.

I dream of painting and then I paint my dream.

Writing is the most fun you can have by yourself.

Art never harms itself by keeping aloof from the social problems of the day: rather, by so doing, it more completely realises for us that which we desire.

My imagination is a twisted place.

I need drama in my life to keep making music.

When everything works best, it’s not because you chose writing but because writing chose you. It’s when you’re mad with it, it’s when it’s stuffed in your ears, your nostrils, under your fingernails. It’s when there’s no hope but that.

It’s insane that, since the Beatles and Dylan, it’s assumed that all musicians should do everything themselves. It’s that ridiculous, teenage idea that when Mick Jagger sings, he’s telling you something about his own life. It’s so arrogant to think that people would want to know about it anyway!

Creativity is the key to success in the future, and primary education is where teachers can bring creativity in children at that level.

The concept of commercialism in the fashion and art world is looked down upon. You know, just to think, ‚What amount of creativity does it take to make something that masses of people like?‘ And, ‚How does creativity apply across the board?‘

I like the app where you can make your own memes. I make memes all the time and send them to my friends.

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

I’m a painter in sound.

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.

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.

Art is always and everywhere the secret confession, and at the same time the immortal movement of its time.

Eating words has never given me indigestion.

I’ve always felt that what I have going for me is not my imagination, because everyone has an imagination. What I have is a relentlessly controlled imagination. What looks like wild invention is actually quite carefully calculated.

I think the idea of art kills creativity.

So vast is art, so narrow human wit.

Men admire the man who can organize their wishes and thoughts in stone and wood and steel and brass.

Every band I’ve worked with also wants to be countercultural in the sense that they want to feel that they’ve gone somewhere that nobody else has been.

When you’re traveling constantly, every day you become inspired, and it shows in my work, sonically, lyrically, visually. Conversations with women with different accents and stories told in those accents. I like to create characters based on different people I’ve met, and relationships. I like to tell stories loosely based on real-life events.

It is a rare mind indeed that can render the hitherto non-existent blindingly obvious. The cry ‚I could have thought of that‘ is a very popular and misleading one, for the fact is that they didn’t, and a very significant and revealing fact it is too.

The thing about being an artist today is you get to develop right in front of people’s eyes before you even put out an album.

Anything you put your mind to and add your imagination into can make your life a lot better and a lot more fun.

Art is going to make a bigger comeback than ever. That’s the upside to things getting challenging.

Art consists of limitation. The most beautiful part of every picture is the frame.

Style is that which indicates how the writer takes himself and what he is saying. It is the mind skating circles around itself as it moves forward.

In my work, as a writer, I only photograph, in words, what I see.

If you love something – and there are things that I love – you do want more and more and more of it, but that’s not the way to produce good work.

What turns me on about the digital age, what excited me personally, is that you have closed the gap between dreaming and doing. You see, it used to be that if you wanted to make a record of a song, you needed a studio and a producer. Now, you need a laptop.

Myth and fairy-story must, as all art, reflect and contain in solution elements of moral and religious truth (or error), but not explicit, not in the known form of the primary ‚real‘ world.

I think that’s why I put my energy into making music. That’s how I get my thoughts out, instead of being crazy all the time.

It’s the way I study – to understand something by trying to work it out or, in other words, to understand something by creating it. Not creating it one hundred percent, of course; but taking a hint as to which direction to go but not remembering the details. These you work out for yourself.

When I am working on a book or a story, I write every morning as soon after first light as possible. There is no one to disturb you, and it is cool or cold, and you come to your work and warm as you write.

I don’t really believe in the type of pressure that people are wanting to put on the type of music that I make.

This world is but a canvas to our imagination.

Religion is essentially the art and the theory of the remaking of man. Man is not a finished creation.

Think off-center.

Substitute ‚damn‘ every time you’re inclined to write ‚very‘; your editor will delete it and the writing will be just as it should be.

Many children make up, or begin to make up, imaginary languages. I have been at it since I could write.

I love dresses, and I’ve definitely thought about designing them someday. I just want to make sure that I wait until the time is perfect and I can do it right.

It’s time to fundamentally change the way that we do business in Washington. To help build a new foundation for the 21st century, we need to reform our government so that it is more efficient, more transparent, and more creative. That will demand new thinking and a new sense of responsibility for every dollar that is spent.

Write injuries in dust, benefits in marble.

I’d like to think you don’t stop being creative once you get happy. My ultimate goal is to end up being happy. Most of the time.

Forces that you might think are utterly unrelated to creativity can have a big impact. Technology, obviously, but environment, too. Even financial structures can affect the actual content of a song. The making of music is profoundly affected by the market.

Democracy is the art and science of running the circus from the monkey cage.

Begin noticing and being careful about keeping your imagination free of thoughts that you do not wish to materialize. Instead, initiate a practice of filling your creative thoughts to overflow with ideas and wishes that you fully intend to manifest. Honor your imaginings regardless of others seeing them as crazy or impossible.

Personality is everything in art and poetry.

If you’re living in your time, you cannot help but to write about the things that are important.