Man is only great when he acts from passion.

I have the ’77 Million Paintings‘ running in my studio a lot of the time. Occasionally I’ll look up from what I’m doing and I think, ‚God, I’ve never seen anything like that before!‘ And that’s a real thrill.

It usually helps me write by reading – somehow the reading gear in your head turns the writing gear.

Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.

Only by contending with challenges that seem to be beyond your strength to handle at the moment you can grow more surely toward the stars.

Never succumb to the temptation of bitterness.

A good writer possesses not only his own spirit but also the spirit of his friends.

You just don’t wake up one day and decide that you need to write songs.

Courage – you develop courage by doing small things like just as if you wouldn’t want to pick up a 100-pound weight without preparing yourself.

Every man I meet is in some way my superior.

I’m not sure what you need first – the players believing or others believing in them – but in the end, both have to think it.

The curse of me and my nation is that we always think things can be bettered by immediate action of some sort, any sort rather than no sort.

Every day that is born into the world comes like a burst of music and rings the whole day through, and you make of it a dance, a dirge, or a life march, as you will.

I remember being in Japan when Destiny’s Child put out ‚Independent Women,‘ and women there were saying how proud they were to have their own jobs, their own independent thinking, their own goals. It made me feel so good, and I realized that one of my responsibilities was to inspire women in a deeper way.

It’s so much easier to pray for a bore than to go and see one.

The right man is the one who seizes the moment.

Nearly everything you do is of no importance, but it is important that you do it.

Be wary of the man who urges an action in which he himself incurs no risk.

I would rather entertain and hope that people learned something than educate people and hope they were entertained.

I’ve never been able to witness the birth of an idea. It seems as if one second, there’s nothing particularly going on, and the next second, something is there. It’s coming up out of my unconscious, up from places that I don’t even know where they are.

I have dreams, and I want to see them come to fruition.

I never got into training to be an All-Ireland boxing champ or to win a belt. At the start, I just got into it to learn how to defend myself when I got into situations.

We must not sit still and look for miracles; up and doing, and the Lord will be with thee. Prayer and pains, through faith in Christ Jesus, will do anything.

It seems like when I was growing up there was more compromise, wanting to work with each other, and I think all of them – all of the lawmakers – have hearts to do what’s right, and they all are passionate about it.

I don’t know what drives me to succeed.

I always wanted a great love affair: something that feels big and full, really honest, and enough. No moment should feel slight, false, or a little off. For me, it had to be everything.

I’ve made money, and I’ve been ripped off. I’ve had creative freedom, and I’ve been pressured to make hits. I have dealt with diva behavior from crazy musicians, and I have seen genius records by wonderful artists get completely ignored. I love music. I always will.

But when I hear a great song, I can’t help but be inspired by it, regardless of whatever genre that song falls under.

If you are born an artist, you have no choice but to fight to stay an artist.

To excel at the highest level – or any level, really – you need to believe in yourself, and hands down, one of the biggest contributors to my self-confidence has been private coaching.

I’m always trying. Between every book, I think, ‚Well now, it’s time to get down to the serious stuff.‘

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

Those who intend on becoming great should love neither themselves nor their own things, but only what is just, whether it happens to be done by themselves or others.

The most miraculous process is watching a song go from a tiny idea in the middle of the night to something that 55,000 people are singing back to you.

A little knowledge that acts is worth infinitely more than much knowledge that is idle.

I think whether you’re having setbacks or not, the role of a leader is to always display a winning attitude.

I can never be safe; I always try and go against the grain. As soon as I accomplish one thing, I just set a higher goal. That’s how I’ve gotten to where I am.

An ounce of practice is worth more than tons of preaching.

I am not designed to come second or third. I am designed to win.

I have goals.

There is a tide in the affairs of men, Which taken at the flood, leads on to fortune. Omitted, all the voyage of their life is bound in shallows and in miseries. On such a full sea are we now afloat. And we must take the current when it serves, or lose our ventures.

Growing up I’ve watched Lewis and aspired to have some of his attributes, mainly his speed. His raw pace is probably the best of everyone on the whole grid, so there are bits you want from different drivers.

Ego is only fine when it is working for your motivation.

Football is all about fans.

The way to get started is to quit talking and begin doing.

I wake up every day inspiring myself, because God gave me life.

The reward of a thing well done is having done it.

Through perseverance many people win success out of what seemed destined to be certain failure.

If I’m inspired to make a certain kind of song, I’m going to make that kind of song, no matter if it’s what they know me as or think I am.

Refuse to be a lazy Christian, and resist a passive, apathetic attitude.

I love being on stage, I love being able to tell a story, I love the fact that the audience listens and laughs at it. It makes me happy, and it’s what I live for.

The revolution is not an apple that falls when it is ripe. You have to make it fall.

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.

Respect your efforts, respect yourself. Self-respect leads to self-discipline. When you have both firmly under your belt, that’s real power.

I grew up where, when a door closed, a window didn’t open. The only thing I had was cracks. I’d do everything to get through those cracks – scratch, claw, bite, push, bleed. Now the opportunity is here. The door is wide open, and it’s as big as a garage.

I was always interested in choreography – in making people think and feel something.

Dream and you shall become.

I am an Addictive Personality, they say, a natural slave to passion – and many Doctors have warned me against it. I am a High-risk Patient.

The power of imagination makes us infinite.

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.

To create something you must be something.