In art, at a certain level, there is no ‚better than.‘ It’s just about trying to operate for yourself on the most supreme level, artistically, that you can and hoping that people get it.

Love is easy, and I love writing. You can’t resist love. You get an idea, someone says something, and you’re in love.

Do the thing you fear most and the death of fear is certain.

It’s always appealing to play a character that has to overcome himself as well as an obstacle. It makes the drama so much deeper.

Because your own strength is unequal to the task, do not assume that it is beyond the powers of man; but if anything is within the powers and province of man, believe that it is within your own compass also.

Being ignorant is not so much a shame, as being unwilling to learn.

My lyrics are generated by various peculiar processes. Very random and similar to automatic writing.

I put out one album one week, and I’m already worried about the next one. I feel a lot of emotion throughout the course of a day. But not to the point where you need to be worried about me.

A man wrapped up in himself makes a very small bundle.

I know of no more encouraging fact than the unquestionable ability of man to elevate his life by conscious endeavor.

If you don’t design your own life plan, chances are you’ll fall into someone else’s plan. And guess what they have planned for you? Not much.

If I get stuck, I look at a book that tells me how someone else did it. I turn the pages, and then I say, ‚Oh, I forgot that bit,‘ then close the book and carry on. Finally, after you’ve figured out how to do it, you read how they did it and find out how dumb your solution is and how much more clever and efficient theirs is!

There’s an effort to reclaim the unmentionable, the unsayable, the unspeakable, all those things come into being a composer, into writing music, into searching for notes and pieces of musical information that don’t exist.

God always wants us to be growing.

To be a monk is to have time to practice for your transformation and healing. And after that to help with the transformation and healing of other people.

There may sometimes be ungenerous attempts to keep a young man down; and they will succeed, too, if he allows his mind to be diverted from its true channel to brood over the attempted injury.

The need for change bulldozed a road down the center of my mind.

As our case is new, we must think and act anew.

Being too good is apt to be uninteresting.

I like having my hands in the clay. I like the movie-making process.

Instead of stubbornly attempting to use surrealism for purposes of subversion, it is necessary to try to make of surrealism something as solid, complete and classic as the works of museums.

If you deserve it, go get it.

On the field, aggression can sometimes be a positive emotion. It boosts performance and can lift your game. But over the years, I have learnt that restrained aggression is a better animal. That way, you will conserve your energy and won’t spend yourself quickly.

Fame is ultimately about the cycles of desire and how to do away with them or manage them well.

I don’t try and be dark, but there are obviously darker emotions that I want to capture sometimes.

You’re just left with yourself all the time, whatever you do anyway. You’ve got to get down to your own God in your own temple. It’s all down to you, mate.

Custom reconciles us to everything.

Good character is not formed in a week or a month. It is created little by little, day by day. Protracted and patient effort is needed to develop good character.

My mother was always fascinated with the fact that I could rhyme so much stuff.

I became interested in folk music because I had to make it somehow.

Thirty-three-years-old, still creating art. It’s rage, it’s creativity, it’s pain, it’s hurt, but it’s the opportunity to still have my voice get out there through music.

It’s better to be a lion for a day than a sheep all your life.

It’s all make believe, isn’t it?

You know, as a writer, I’m more of a listener than a writer, cuz if I hear something I will write it down.

I would get out of school and go straight to my computer to create beats.

All the adversity I’ve had in my life, all my troubles and obstacles, have strengthened me… You may not realize it when it happens, but a kick in the teeth may be the best thing in the world for you.

Success does not consist in never making mistakes but in never making the same one a second time.

So much of what we do every single day is the result of habits that we have formed over time.

I’m just going to say it: I’m pro-guilt. Guilt is good. Guilt helps us stay on track because it’s about our behavior. It occurs when we compare something we’ve done – or failed to do – with our personal values.

All life is an experiment. The more experiments you make the better.

I can make something magical and wonderful out of nothing.

Courage is like love; it must have hope for nourishment.

Though ambition in itself is a vice, it often is also the parent of virtue.

Think twice before you speak, because your words and influence will plant the seed of either success or failure in the mind of another.

I never experiment with anything in my books. Experimentation means you don’t know what you’re doing.

Mastering others is strength. Mastering yourself is true power.

Men take only their needs into consideration – never their abilities.

The more successful I become, the more I need a man.

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

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 think it all comes back to being very selfish as an artist. I mean, I really do just write and record what interests me and I do approach the stage shows in much the same way.

What could I say to you that would be of value, except that perhaps you seek too much, that as a result of your seeking you cannot find.

The atmosphere of orthodoxy is always damaging to prose, and above all it is completely ruinous to the novel, the most anarchical of all forms of literature.

Poetry is the art of substantiating shadows, and of lending existence to nothing.

I never let schooling interfere with my education.

Sometimes if you want to see a change for the better, you have to take things into your own hands.

I made all my generals out of mud.

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.

I think kids are natural actors. You watch most kids; if they don’t have a toy, they’ll pick up a stick and make a toy out of it. Kids will daydream all the time.

People who are unable to motivate themselves must be content with mediocrity, no matter how impressive their other talents.

Even in literature and art, no man who bothers about originality will ever be original: whereas if you simply try to tell the truth (without caring twopence how often it has been told before) you will, nine times out of ten, become original without ever having noticed it.