Never regret what you don’t write.

If a small-town boy like me who bagged groceries was able to make his dreams come true, you can too.

My aim is to put down on paper what I see and what I feel in the best and simplest way.

The writing is important, but the way you say the line and the pause you give it, the facial expression – all of that is very important.

You were not created to just get by with an average, unrewarding, or unfulfilling life. God created you to leave your mark on this generation.

I long to accomplish a great and noble task, but it is my chief duty to accomplish small tasks as if they were great and noble.

First and last, what is demanded of genius is love of truth.

I think New York has evolved in my work just the way the city has.

I spent three days a week for 10 years educating myself in the public library, and it’s better than college. People should educate themselves – you can get a complete education for no money. At the end of 10 years, I had read every book in the library and I’d written a thousand stories.

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.

It’s funny because I’ve made a living off of words, but words get in the way of what you really want to say.

A man is not finished when he is defeated. He is finished when he quits.

Are you bored with life? Then throw yourself into some work you believe in with all your heart, live for it, die for it, and you will find happiness that you had thought could never be yours.

Cast 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.

I am impelled, not to squeak like a grateful and apologetic mouse, but to roar like a lion out of pride in my profession.

Our main business is not to see what lies dimly at a distance, but to do what lies clearly at hand.

I’m kind of fascist with myself, you know.

The difference is slight, to the influence of an author, whether he is read by five hundred readers, or by five hundred thousand; if he can select the five hundred, he reaches the five hundred thousand.

All of my records, I produced, put together completely. All of them. Maybe Drake might come with an idea, and I might finish it. You gotta remember what a producer is. Quincy Jones is a producer.

Concentrate all your thoughts upon the work at hand. The sun’s rays do not burn until brought to a focus.

Of course, I do everything for money.

I love making music. That’s what I love to do. So I don’t feel like there’s any need to take a break unless I want to.

When one has a great deal to put into it a day has a hundred pockets.

Good leadership consists of showing average people how to do the work of superior people.

Ambition is the last refuge of the failure.

I have goals.

Creative output, you know, is just pain. I’m going to be cliche for a minute and say that great art comes from pain.

When I see a story, I ask: is this something I’d like to be in? Is this something I’d like to see? And if I’d like to see it, would I like to tell it?

Somebody once asked me what my theory of life was, and I said, ‚Don’t try.‘ That fits the writing, too. I don’t try; I just type.

Do I have chocolate chip cookies? Yes, I do. Do I have mint chocolate chip milkshakes? Yes, I do. I love them. They are fantastic. But when I have them, they’re worth it. I earned them. I did something. I worked out super hard. I stayed clean on food.

Alas! You complain that your soul is out of tune. Then ask the Master to tune the heart-strings.

To take a few nouns, and a few pronouns, and adverbs and adjectives, and put them together, ball them up, and throw them against the wall to make them bounce. That’s what Norman Mailer did. That’s what James Baldwin did, and Joan Didion did, and that’s what I do – that’s what I mean to do.

I tweet in the morning and the evening. To write 12 hours a day, there is a moment when you’re really tired. It’s my relaxing time.

If you are first you are first. If you are second you are nothing.

If you really want to know what Middle-earth is based on, it’s my wonder and delight in the earth as it is, particularly the natural earth.

Art is going to make a bigger comeback than ever. That’s the upside to things getting challenging.

Men of lofty genius when they are doing the least work are most active.

It is easier to stay out than get out.

It is always your next move.

Technology is just a tool. In terms of getting the kids working together and motivating them, the teacher is the most important.

I’m not a writer who teaches. I’m a teacher who writes.

You can draw inspiration from anything. If you’re a good storyteller, you can take a dirty look somebody gives you, or if a guy you used to have flirtations with starts dating a new girl, or somebody you’re casually talking to says something that makes you so mad – you can create an entire scenario around that.

Practice yourself, for heaven’s sake in little things, and then proceed to greater.

I guess I’m just inspired to tell stories.

As is the case with most people in this game, I am driven by financial motives and creative motives; the question I had to answer is which motive I will give priority to?

The highest reward for a person’s toil is not what they get for it, but what they become by it.

To do a dull thing with style-now that’s what I call art.

All truly great thoughts are conceived by walking.

Well I think a lot of times we’re putting things off and I’m going to do it later. I’m going to break this bad habit or I’m going to pursue this dream or I’m going to treat my spouse better.

I’m thrilled to have Corona join me on my ‚X100PRE‘ Tour to give my fans a taste of Corona Estereo Beach and showcase their support of Latin music. It’s not solely about the music – it’s about the culture, creativity, and contributing to the movement that connects us all together.

Effort only fully releases its reward after a person refuses to quit.

Positional leaders ignore the fact that every person has hopes, dreams, desires, and goals of his own. And leaders must bring their vision and the aspirations of the people they lead together in a way that benefits everyone.

The important thing is that your teammates have to know you’re pulling for them and you really want them to be successful.

Keep your eyes on the stars, and your feet on the ground.

Modern poets talk against business, poor things, but all of us write for money. Beginners are subjected to trial by market.

Science fiction is any idea that occurs in the head and doesn’t exist yet, but soon will, and will change everything for everybody, and nothing will ever be the same again. As soon as you have an idea that changes some small part of the world you are writing science fiction. It is always the art of the possible, never the impossible.

If you lose a big fight, it will worry you all of your life. It will plague you – until you get your revenge.

I never called my work an ‚art‘. It’s part of show business, the business of building entertainment.

No great deed is done by falterers who ask for certainty.

It isn’t sufficient just to want – you’ve got to ask yourself what you are going to do to get the things you want.

What one has, one ought to use: and whatever he does he should do with all his might.