The point about melody and beat and lyric is that they exist to engage you in a very particular way. They want to occupy your attention.
Brian EnoAt the touch of love everyone becomes a poet.
PlatoA teacher affects eternity; he can never tell where his influence stops.
Henry AdamsMusic is a really great creative tool for me, for different roles.
Matthew McConaugheyI made an album I’m very proud of, and that’s about it.
Amy WinehouseAmbition can creep as well as soar.
Edmund BurkeYou don’t write because you want to say something, you write because you have something to say.
F. Scott FitzgeraldI need drama in my life to keep making music.
EminemI’ve got a feeling that music might not be the most interesting place to be in the world of things.
Brian EnoThe idea that is not dangerous is not worthy of being called an idea at all.
Elbert HubbardI decided to pursue music, so I dropped out of school and I told my parents I didn’t want any money from them. I got three jobs and I just hit the ground running.
Lady GagaPunk was defined by an attitude rather than a musical style.
David ByrneMy music definitely comes from a place of experience. Everything connects to a truth.
Frank OceanCast away your sloth, your lethargy, your coldness, or whatever interferes with your chaste and pure love for Christ, your soul’s husband. Make Him the source, the center, and the circumference of all your soul’s range of delight.
Charles SpurgeonI’ve always written songs the same way. You learn different tricks – you learn craft, you learn structure, all that – as you go.
Taylor SwiftRhythm is something you either have or don’t have, but when you have it, you have it all over.
Elvis PresleySubstitute ‚damn‘ every time you’re inclined to write ‚very‘; your editor will delete it and the writing will be just as it should be.
Mark TwainTo do a dull thing with style-now that’s what I call art.
Charles BukowskiI need music. It’s like my heartbeat, so to speak. It keeps me going no matter what’s going on – bad games, press, whatever!
LeBron JamesWithout freedom, no art; art lives only on the restraints it imposes on itself, and dies of all others.
Albert CamusMusic, for me, is vital. Punjabi, Bollywood, Sufi, RnB… I listen to it all. When I’m not listening to music, you will find me chatting with friends. Off the field, I just let my instincts take over. I certainly don’t think about batting, or which bowlers I’m going to face.
Virat KohliPeople have to go through trials and tribulations to get where they at. Do your thing – continue to rock it – because obviously, God wants you here.
Kendrick LamarI write for the same reason I breathe – because if I didn’t, I would die.
Isaac AsimovPeople don’t care about what someone says about you in a movie – or even what you say, right? They care about what you build. And if you can make something that makes people’s life better, then that’s something that’s really good.
Mark ZuckerbergLook, when I started out, mainstream culture was Sinatra, Perry Como, Andy Williams, Sound of Music. There was no fitting into it then and of course, there’s no fitting into it now.
Bob DylanI love to watch videos, and I’ve always liked to film and take pictures. I have an eye for really weird things that nobody thinks about. I used to make little movies about myself and then edit them on iMovie.
Billie EilishHip-hop is ever changing but you’ll always have the pack. And you’ll always have those people who are separated from the pack.
EminemIf I inspire you, pay for it, period.
Nipsey HussleImpossible is a word to be found only in the dictionary of fools.
Napoleon BonaparteArt’s everything we hope life would be, a lot of times.
Frank OceanOne science only will one genius fit; so vast is art, so narrow human wit.
Alexander PopeNo idea is so outlandish that it should not be considered with a searching but at the same time a steady eye.
Winston ChurchillFor me, writing has always come out of living a fairly to-the-bone kind of life, just really being present to a lot of life. The writing has been really a byproduct of that.
Alice WalkerPeople like music when they’re in love, but they don’t need it as much. You need music when you’re missing someone or you’re pining for someone or you’re forgetting someone or you’re trying to process what just happened.
Taylor SwiftI love story songs because I’ve always loved books.
Dolly PartonI sing and play the guitar, and I’m a walking, talking bacterial infection.
Kurt CobainI ain’t never far away from a pencil and paper or a tape recorder.
Dolly PartonMusic is a moral law. It gives soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination, and charm and gaiety to life and to everything.
PlatoTupac, Biggie, Jay. Your usual suspects. These were the people that was played in my household.
Kendrick LamarI just love Bowie. I think he’s the ultimate inventor.
The WeekndI 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.
Stephen CurryOdd how the creative power at once brings the whole universe to order.
Virginia WoolfI’ve been blessed to be somebody that’s been climbing that success mountain top for years of hard work, you know, but now it’s all connecting. And now, the whole world is watching, you know what I’m saying, and it feels good ‚cause it’s good energy. This is all positive vibes, and good vibes and good energy, so it feels incredible.
DJ KhaledFor me, writing a song, I sit down and the process doesn’t really involve me thinking about the demographic of people I’m trying to hit or who I want to be able to relate to the song or what genre of music it falls under.
Taylor SwiftOur brand of democracy is hard. But I can promise that a year from now, when I no longer hold this office, I’ll be right there with you as a citizen – inspired by those voices of fairness and vision, of grit and good humor and kindness that have helped America travel so far.
Barack ObamaI’m never going to go to Mars, but I’ve helped inspire, thank goodness, the people who built the rockets and sent our photographic equipment off to Mars.
Ray BradburyHow far that little candle throws its beams! So shines a good deed in a naughty world.
William ShakespeareIt’s kind of like a challenge to myself to be able to hear somebody else’s hook and kind of interpret the words. Because my own hooks, I already know what I mean when I write them.
EminemWriting a song is so personal. You have to have trust in someone you’re working with; otherwise, you’re not gonna come out with something that’s really you.
Billie EilishYou don’t have to be a renowned artist like Q-Tip to try your hand at poetry. You don’t need any special equipment – that’s the beauty of it.
Michelle ObamaStyle 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.
Robert FrostYou do projects with the hope they will be big and hope they will go beyond what you imagine.
Kevin HartTelevision sounded really different than the Ramones sounded really different than us sounded really different than Blondie sounded really different than the Sex Pistols.
David ByrneYou cannot be creative with people around you.
Karl LagerfeldThere is nothing in the world so much admired as a man who knows how to bear unhappiness with courage.
Lucius Annaeus SenecaYou know, my sister sings, my brother plays drums in my band. My whole family is a bunch of musicians.
Bruno MarsI was doing sold-out shows before I got radio play.
Kevin GatesWe all gonna die eventually from something or other, but don’t be a wimp. Put up a good fight.
Mr. TLife is a song to me.
Dolly PartonI know of no single formula for success. But over the years I have observed that some attributes of leadership are universal and are often about finding ways of encouraging people to combine their efforts, their talents, their insights, their enthusiasm and their inspiration to work together.
Queen Elizabeth II