I spent a lot of years trying to outrun or outsmart vulnerability by making things certain and definite, black and white, good and bad. My inability to lean into the discomfort of vulnerability limited the fullness of those important experiences that are wrought with uncertainty: Love, belonging, trust, joy, and creativity to name a few.

Early on, when I was quite young and going from job to job, I was foolish enough to sometimes speak to my fellow workers: ‚Hey, the boss can come in here at any moment and lay all of us off, just like that, don’t you realize that?‘ They would just look at me. I was posing something that they didn’t want to enter their minds.

Nothing great is created suddenly, any more than a bunch of grapes or a fig. If you tell me that you desire a fig. I answer you that there must be time. Let it first blossom, then bear fruit, then ripen.

Practically everybody in New York has half a mind to write a book, and does.

We must use time creatively.

Success isn’t supposed to happen, no matter how hard you work. There’s no guarantee you’re going to succeed. There’s nothing set in stone.

Writing makes you feel that there is a reason to go on living. If I couldn’t write, I would stop breathing.

When nature has work to be done, she creates a genius to do it.

My goal in music is to create nostalgic moments.

I don’t sing because I’m happy; I’m happy because I sing.

When I start to write, I don’t have any plan at all. I just wait for the story to come.

Yet, it is true, poetry is delicious; the best prose is that which is most full of poetry.

There have been many great men that have flattered the people who ne’er loved them.

My mom and I have always been there for each other. We had some tough times, but she was always there for me.

Genius creates, and taste preserves. Taste is the good sense of genius; without taste, genius is only sublime folly.

I kinda like the idea of having an album that’s all me.

Remember that creating a successful marriage is like farming: you have to start over again every morning.

It is through art, and through art only, that we can realise our perfection.

Originality is nothing but judicious imitation. The most original writers borrowed one from another.

You make a movie, and if somebody reads something into it, then great, more power to him.

I’m honored that everybody’s inspired off my inspiration.

Man becomes his most creative during war.

We are afraid to care too much, for fear that the other person does not care at all.

I’m a pretty decent writer. It comes easy to me. I don’t agonize over sentences. I write like I talk. I try to make them good books.

Ideas are the beginning points of all fortunes.

At Sarah Lawrence, I realized that everybody was already what they were going to be. The painters were painting, the writers writing, the dancers dancing. And nobody wore any makeup. The art was uppermost.

Everybody always laughs because I feel so much more comfortable with, like, a giant paper bag on my whole body and paint on my face. Sometimes I try really hard to take it all off. But inevitably what’s underneath is still not a straight edge. And I don’t think it ever will be.

Nothing is more fearful than imagination without taste.

Art is not a treasure in the past or an importation from another land, but part of the present life of all living and creating peoples.

Love is blind; friendship closes its eyes.

I was never interested in being powerful or famous. But once I got to film school and learned about movies, I just fell in love with it. I didn’t care what kind of movies I made.

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

All great and beautiful work has come of first gazing without shrinking into the darkness.

Love possesses not nor will it be possessed, for love is sufficient unto love.

There is nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and bleed.

What we need to understand is that when traditions become laws, rules, obligations and expectations others put on us that we don’t want to fulfill, then they lose real meaning and steal the joy from our lives. And if we’re too religious, we won’t be able to be led by the Holy Spirit and enjoy an intimate relationship with Him.

All the works of man have their origin in creative fantasy. What right have we then to depreciate imagination.

I see drawings and pictures in the poorest of huts and the dirtiest of corners.

Often, I can scarcely hear any one speaking to me; the tones yes, but not the actual words; yet as soon as any one shouts, it is unbearable. What will come of all this, heaven only knows!

Normally, when someone we love is turning away from a struggle, we self-protect by also turning away. That’s definitely my first response. I think change is more likely to happen if both partners have common language and a shared lens to see problems.

In spiritual things, it is God who performs all things for you. Rest in Him, then.

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.

I’ll think I have a few wonderful friends and all of a sudden, ooh, here it comes. They do a lot of things. They talk about you to the press, to their friends, tell stories, and you know, it’s disappointing.

Let every eye negotiate for itself and trust no agent.

The truth is I love being alive. And I love feeling free. So if I can’t have those things then I feel like a caged animal and I’d rather not be in a cage. I’d rather be dead. And it’s real simple. And I think it’s not that uncommon.

Jump out the window if you are the object of passion. Flee it if you feel it. Passion goes, boredom remains.

If I get married, I want to be very married.

I used to like to set different film clips to classical music, not even my own songs, but make little movies.

Be slow to fall into friendship; but when thou art in, continue firm and constant.

Let no such man be trusted.

I believe the most solemn duty of the American president is to protect the American people. If America shows uncertainty and weakness in this decade, the world will drift toward tragedy. This will not happen on my watch.

I ain’t never far away from a pencil and paper or a tape recorder.

I don’t want enemies. I want friends, and I want them in all shapes, sizes, and colors, and loving whoever they want to.

Little children are still the symbol of the eternal marriage between love and duty.

The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched – they must be felt with the heart.

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

The hardest thing for – not only an artist but for anybody to do is look themselves in the mirror and acknowledge, you know, their own flaws and fears and imperfections and put them out there in the open for people to relate to it.

The greatest gift that you can give to others is the gift of unconditional love and acceptance.

I argue thee that love is life. And life hath immortality.

If someone thinks that love and peace is a cliche that must have been left behind in the Sixties, that’s his problem. Love and peace are eternal.

Music is not math. It’s science. You keep mixing the stuff up until it blows up on you, or it becomes this incredible potion.