I leave the genre labeling to other people. I really do. If I were to think too hard about it, that would stifle you creatively. If you think too hard about who other people want you to be as an artist, it stops you from being who you want to be as an artist.

Every secret of a writer’s soul, every experience of his life, every quality of his mind is written large in his works.

Mickey Mouse popped out of my mind onto a drawing pad 20 years ago on a train ride from Manhattan to Hollywood at a time when business fortunes of my brother Roy and myself were at lowest ebb and disaster seemed right around the corner.

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

I’ve been trying to… Having been an English literary graduate, I’ve been trying to avoid the idea of doing art ever since. I think the idea of art kills creativity.

It is better to imitate ancient than modern work.

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

I tend not to like an awful lot of what is going out under my name now because it is just all product. Who needs it?

See that the imagination of nature is far, far greater than the imagination of man.

Love. Fall in love and stay in love. Write only what you love, and love what you write. The key word is love. You have to get up in the morning and write something you love, something to live for.

No idea is so outlandish that it should not be considered with a searching but at the same time a steady eye.

The most important thing I can tell you about aging is this: If you really feel that you want to have an off-the-shoulder blouse and some big beads and thong sandals and a dirndl skirt and a magnolia in your hair, do it. Even if you’re wrinkled.

I can express myself.

Consistency is the last refuge of the unimaginative.

The job of the artist is always to deepen the mystery.

I’m an inventor.

That is what we are supposed to do when we are at our best – make it all up – but make it up so truly that later it will happen that way.

Almost every man wastes part of his life attempting to display qualities which he does not possess.

No one tells me what to do with my music. Real. My mom doesn’t tell what to say, how is someone else going to?

The most courageous act is still to think for yourself. Aloud.

I’ve always written songs the same way. You learn different tricks – you learn craft, you learn structure, all that – as you go.

To all the musicians, to the Academy, with all due respect, reggaeton is part of our Latin culture. And its representing as much as any other genre at the worldwide level.

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

‚For Whom the Bell Tolls‘ was a problem which I carried on each day. I knew what was going to happen in principle. But I invented what happened each day I wrote.

For novelists or musicians, if they really want to create something, they need to go downstairs and find a passage to get into the second basement. What I want to do is go down there, but still stay sane.

The truth is: Belonging starts with self-acceptance. Your level of belonging, in fact, can never be greater than your level of self-acceptance, because believing that you’re enough is what gives you the courage to be authentic, vulnerable and imperfect.

The essence of being human is that one does not seek perfection.

I want to look my best for God. So many people have the attitude that if you’re a Christian you’ve got to dress bad, wear an old color, not do anything to your hair, have nothing. It’s no wonder that Christianity is not very attractive. I mean, how many people do you know in a Western culture that’s going to go, ‚Yeah, give me some of that?‘

Most poets are young simply because they have not been caught up. Show me an old poet, and I’ll show you, more often than not, either a madman or a master… it’s when you begin to lie to yourself in a poem in order simply to make a poem that you fail. That is why I do not rework poems.

In the future, you won’t buy artists‘ works; you’ll buy software that makes original pieces of ‚their‘ works, or that recreates their way of looking at things. You could buy a Shostakovich box, or you could buy a Brahms box. You might want some Shostakovich slow-movement-like music to be generated. So then you use that box.

There are definitely people who disagree with certain creative decisions you make. Pleasing everyone is pretty hard.

The difficult thing is that vulnerability is the first thing I look for in you and the last thing I’m willing to show you. In you, it’s courage and daring. In me, it’s weakness.

True glory takes root, and even spreads; all false pretences, like flowers, fall to the ground; nor can any counterfeit last long.

I think that the idea of having a different approach to every single one of my albums is so exciting to me. I never want to make the same record twice. Why do it? What’s the point?

It is better to be violent, if there is violence in our hearts, than to put on the cloak of nonviolence to cover impotence.

Writing free verse is like playing tennis with the net down.

Writing is my love. If you love something, you find a lot of time. I write for two hours a day, usually starting at midnight; at times, I start at 11.

It’s when you begin to lie to yourself in a poem in order to simply make a poem, that you fail.

Design is not just what it looks like and feels like. Design is how it works.

I believe you have to be willing to be misunderstood if you’re going to innovate.

I never want to change so much that people can’t recognize me.

I used to consider the listener. But now I’m in a space where, if I’m not inspired, I can’t really do the music. I can’t feel it.

I try to not focus on what people expect from me.

Genius is always allowed some leeway, once the hammer has been pried from its hands and the blood has been cleaned up.

I liked to write from the time I was about 12 or 13. I loved to read. And since I only spoke to my brother, I would write down my thoughts. And I think I wrote some of the worst poetry west of the Rockies. But by the time I was in my 20s, I found myself writing little essays and more poetry – writing at writing.

The ear is the only true writer and the only true reader.

We can’t solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them.

I think carrying moral baggage is very dangerous for an artist. If you have a duty, it’s to be true and not cover up the cracks.

Every movie I make teaches me something. That’s why I keep making them.

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.

Man becomes his most creative during war.

I’m giving all that I have in this life. I’m opening up my notebook, and I’m saying everything in there out loud.

Ideas excite me, and as soon as I get excited, the adrenaline gets going and the next thing I know I’m borrowing energy from the ideas themselves.

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.

When I was five, I think, that’s when I started wanting to be an actress. I loved to play. I didn’t like the world around me because it was kind of grim, but I loved to play house. It was like you could make your own boundaries.

A ratio of failures is built into the process of writing. The wastebasket has evolved for a reason.

Everything is an open book. I don’t speak on other people’s hardship, but if it happened in my life or something that has been an experience on my particular journey, I’m going to talk about it. That’s what my fan base appreciates the most. I’m universal. You can relate to the things I say or that I go through.

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

Creative people don’t behave very well generally. If you’re looking for examples of good relationships in show business, you’re gonna be depressed real fast. I don’t have time for anything else right now but work and my daughter. She’s my first priority.

I feel that when you care about your music, taking risks is something you should do to keep things exciting.

There was never a genius without a tincture of madness.