Masterpieces are not single and solitary births; they are the outcome of many years of thinking in common, of thinking by the body of the people, so that the experience of the mass is behind the single voice.

The world of reality has its limits; the world of imagination is boundless.

I’d like to think you don’t stop being creative once you get happy.

I find a lot of inspiration through visuals. When I was 12, I saw Aurora’s ‚Runaway‘ music video. Something inside me clicked, like, ‚That is what I want to do, no matter whether it goes anywhere or not.‘

Bill Gates has always been a mentor and inspiration for me even before I knew him. Just growing up, I admired how Microsoft was mission-focused.

There is that in the glance of a flower which may at times control the greatest of creation’s braggart lords.

I’ve read a lot of really great characters in some really crappy stories, where I said, like, ‚Boy I could shine here, but the story sucks.‘ I don’t want to be part of that.

If I’m the people’s poet, then I ought to be in people’s hands – and, I hope, in their heart.

I’m still in love with what I do, with the idea of making things up, so hours when I write always feel like very blessed hours to me.

My songs are the door to every dream I’ve ever had and every success I’ve ever achieved.

When I am putting looks together, I dare myself to make something work. I always look for the most interesting silhouette or something that’s a little off, but I have to figure it out. I have to make it me. I think that’s the thrill in fashion.

It’s important that we invest in America – literally. The terrorists wanted to destroy our economy, and we can’t let our system fall apart. We also have to invest in one another.

The more you practice, the better you get, the more freedom you have to create.

If you like a person you say ‚let’s go into business together.‘ Man is a social animal after all, but such partnerships are fraught with danger.

You 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.

Obviously, the cinematography of films is art, just as a still shot can be art. If I’m watching a Wes Anderson movie, the colour palettes alone, and the way they’re painted, could be art. With music, you’re a little bit limited, of course, because it’s only audio.

My mother says I was writing before I was crawling. I wrote in the dirt with a twig.

To those of you who received honours, awards and distinctions, I say well done. And to the C students, I say you, too, can be president of the United States.

When I have an idea, I turn down the flame, as if it were a little alcohol stove, as low as it will go. Then it explodes and that is my idea.

Sometimes I’ll jot a clever turn of phrase down. Sometimes I’ll just remember it.

We cannot possibly let ourselves get frozen into regarding everyone we do not know as an absolute stranger.

Hide not your talents. They for use were made. What’s a sundial in the shade?

Both free speech rights and property rights belong legally to individuals, but their real function is social, to benefit vast numbers of people who do not themselves exercise these rights.

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

I want to be an artist, not… a celluloid aphrodisiac.

Man’s only true happiness is to live in hope of something to be won by him. Reverence something to be worshipped by him, and love something to be cherished by him, forever.

People like Frank Zappa and Bryan Ferry knew we could pick and choose from the history of music, stick things together looking for friction and energy. They were more like playwrights; they invented characters and wrote a life around them.

With me poetry has not been a purpose, but a passion.

It’s time to fundamentally change the way that we do business in Washington. To help build a new foundation for the 21st century, we need to reform our government so that it is more efficient, more transparent, and more creative. That will demand new thinking and a new sense of responsibility for every dollar that is spent.

Better the rudest work that tells a story or records a fact, than the richest without meaning.

I am confident that partnering my Dollywood Company with a great company like Gaylord will create something truly special.

That is how you get to be a writer, incidentally: you feel somehow marginal, somehow slightly off-balance all the time.

Yes, and I can sit down on a white piece of paper and work because I don’t believe too much into inspiration, only I’m waiting for inspiration, work and then inspiration may come. It’s a little too easy to say that.

My dear sisters, whatever your calling, whatever your circumstances, we need your impressions, your insights, and your inspiration. We need you to speak up and speak out in ward and stake councils.

Hundreds of people who’ve never written before send in ‚Dr. Who‘ scripts. They may have good ideas, but what they fail to realise is that writing for TV is incredibly complicated. They have no idea how difficult it is and what the financial commitment is.

The dreams and passions stored within hearts are powerful keys which can unlock a wealth of potential.

Faith Hill is a big role model.

I can’t usually stomach a project after I finish it, but for those days and weeks and months that it’s new to me, I do listen to it, and it might change over time, but it’s about function.

Every man I meet is in some way my superior.

We need to understand that we as citizens and as a government in any community throughout this country have no more important obligation than to educate those who are going to replace us.

The function of the artist is to invent, not to chronicle.

Sometimes I write about my own life. And sometimes I write about situations I see my friends going through. Sometimes I write about a scene I saw in a movie. I take inspiration from all different places.

China and the U.S. need each other very badly. Yes, we should argue about some things, but it’s not an ‚us versus them,‘ it’s an ‚us and them‘ type scenario.

As a musician and a songwriter, it is an act of the ego to believe that other people might be interested in your point of view. But it is usually an empathetic nature that gets you going in the first place.

Desire is the starting point of all achievement, not a hope, not a wish, but a keen pulsating desire which transcends everything.

All theory, dear friend, is gray, but the golden tree of life springs ever green.

In a very real sense, it will not be one man going to the moon it will be an entire nation. For all of us must work to put him there.

Do creative, social, and civic attitudes change depending on where we live? Yes, I think so.

Leaders must be close enough to relate to others, but far enough ahead to motivate them.

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

In order to fly, all one must do is simply miss the ground.

You do things when the opportunities come along. I’ve had periods in my life when I’ve had a bundle of ideas come along, and I’ve had long dry spells. If I get an idea next week, I’ll do something. If not, I won’t do a damn thing.

Music is a really great creative tool for me, for different roles.

We don’t make music – it makes us.

When you draw or paint a tree, you do not imitate the tree; you do not copy it exactly as it is, which would be mere photography. To be free to paint a tree or a flower or a sunset, you have to feel what it conveys to you: the significance, the meaning of it.

I usually don’t like to ‚spoon feed‘ my audience, because I grew up idolizing story tellers who tell stories using symbolism, so it was in my nature to do the same.

He ate and drank the precious Words, his Spirit grew robust; He knew no more that he was poor, nor that his frame was Dust.

You are never too young to learn, never too old to change.

I write songs that are like diary entries. I have to do it in order to feel sane.

The mediator of the inexpressible is the work of art.

Like a pianist runs her fingers over the keys, I’ll search my mind for what to say. Now, the poem may want you to write it. And then sometimes you see a situation and think, ‚I’d like to write about that.‘ Those are two different ways of being approached by a poem, or approaching a poem.