I subscribe to the myth that an artist’s creativity comes from torment. Once that’s fixed, what do you draw on?

When I did have some success, it further emboldens you to be like, ‚No, I’m just going to write what I feel I should write.‘

I’m just a kid that defied the odds. I’m just a kid that ignored the doubt. I’m just a kid from a little place in Dublin, Ireland, that went all the way, and I’m going to continue to go all the way.

You can’t do it unless you can imagine it.

Whatever your life’s work is, do it well. A man should do his job so well that the living, the dead, and the unborn could do it no better.

If you can’t make it good, at least make it look good.

All my pictures are built around the idea of getting in trouble and so giving me the chance to be desperately serious in my attempt to appear as a normal little gentleman.

All my big mistakes are when I try to second-guess or please an audience. My work is always stronger when I get very selfish about it.

Personally, I think the best motto for an educational establishment is: ‚Or Would You Rather Be a Mule?‘

Art is man’s expression of his joy in labor.

Every artist wants something different out the game.

The aim of art is to represent not the outward appearance of things, but their inward significance.

My goal in music is to create nostalgic moments.

All good writing is swimming under water and holding your breath.

Keep a good attitude and do the right thing even when it’s hard. When you do that you are passing the test. And God promises you your marked moments are on their way.

Art is the proper task of life.

I thought it was magic to be able to catch something identically on tape and then be able to play around with it, run it backwards; I thought that was great for years.

All of my music is honest.

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

Nothing is permanent in this wicked world – not even our troubles.

What keeps me motivated is love and passion.

Writing is the most fun you can have by yourself.

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

I just genuinely feel that that’s what you do when you’re an artist: You stick up for the people around you.

Nay, be a Columbus to whole new continents and worlds within you, opening new channels, not of trade, but of thought.

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!

I have certain guys who I looked up to. Jordan, Kobe, those guys. Passing that on to doing my part to kind of keep that influence of basketball where it should be is kind of why I play the game.

With ideas it is like with dizzy heights you climb: At first they cause you discomfort and you are anxious to get down, distrustful of your own powers; but soon the remoteness of the turmoil of life and the inspiring influence of the altitude calm your blood; your step gets firm and sure and you begin to look – for dizzier heights.

If I haven’t any talent for writing books or newspaper articles, well, then I can always write for myself.

The most genius thing about the way I create is to create with other geniuses.

Anyone can be a Superman, but nobody can be Jackie Chan.

I hate the idea of genres.

Technique is really personality. That is the reason why the artist cannot teach it, why the pupil cannot learn it, and why the aesthetic critic can understand it.

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.

I want to thank The Beatles for almost single-handedly getting me out of writer’s block.

Ambition can creep as well as soar.

New ideas pass through three periods: 1) It can’t be done. 2) It probably can be done, but it’s not worth doing. 3) I knew it was a good idea all along!

Without this playing with fantasy no creative work has ever yet come to birth. The debt we owe to the play of the imagination is incalculable.

Young people are fitter to invent than to judge; fitter for execution than for counsel; and more fit for new projects than for settled business.

When you cease to make a contribution, you begin to die.

I do not think there is any thrill that can go through the human heart like that felt by the inventor as he sees some creation of the brain unfolding to success… such emotions make a man forget food, sleep, friends, love, everything.

No art can be noble which is incapable of expressing thought, and no art is capable of expressing thought which does not change.

You cannot be creative with people around you.

And if you’re horrible to me I’m going to write a song about you and you are not going to like it. That’s how I operate.

Life can be boring unless you put some effort into it.

But I think talent as a writer is hard-wired in, it’s all there, at least the basic elements of it. You can’t change it any more than you can choose whether to be right handed or left handed.

Men do not shape destiny, Destiny produces the man for the hour.

I have the Midas touch, in the way that when I hook up with a project, I feel, not speaking cocky or conceited, but there’s a confidence I have. I learned that from Muhammad Ali; I used to bodyguard him. He taught me about confidence. So when it comes to any job I work, I’m gonna do it good; I’m going to bring it over the top.

Think off-center.

It’s very important that we re-learn the art of resting and relaxing. Not only does it help prevent the onset of many illnesses that develop through chronic tension and worrying; it allows us to clear our minds, focus, and find creative solutions to problems.

If there’s not drama and negativity in my life, all my songs will be really wack and boring or something.

If you enjoy living, it is not difficult to keep the sense of wonder.

As scientists, we step on the shoulders of science, building on the work that has come before us – aiming to inspire a new generation of young scientists to continue once we are gone.

For my part I know nothing with any certainty, but the sight of the stars makes me dream.

The writing process, the way I go about it is I do whatever the beat feels like, whatever the beat is telling me to do. Usually when the beat comes on, I think of a hook or the subject I want to rap about almost instantly. Within four, eight bars of it playing I’m just like, ‚Oh, OK. This is what I wanna do‘.

I’m a painter in sound.

Whenever death may surprise us, let it be welcome if our battle cry has reached even one receptive ear and another hand reaches out to take up our arms.

Asking is the beginning of receiving. Make sure you don’t go to the ocean with a teaspoon. At least take a bucket so the kids won’t laugh at you.

Sometimes, if you begin to sing in a halfhearted mood, you can sing yourself up the ladder. Singing will often make the heart rise.

Consistency is the last refuge of the unimaginative.

I wake up in the morning and my mind starts making sentences, and I have to get rid of them fast – talk them or write them down.