So that’s the dissenter’s hope: that they are writing not for today but for tomorrow.

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.

I’m not a fortune-teller.

A poet never takes notes. You never take notes in a love affair.

An author writes a book, and that’s the book at that point. And if the author writes the book again, then somehow something has gone wrong, if you see what I mean.

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. So as an author, I need to write what I need to write.

Music comes to me more readily than words.

I think women want freedom. They want to be empowered. They want hope. They want love; they want all the things that I want, and I’m not afraid to say those things and act on them, and I think that’s why they identify with me.

Bhai was my hero and he had immense influence on me.

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.

I don’t control my writing – it controls me.

If one could be friendly with women, what a pleasure – the relationship so secret and private compared with relations with men. Why not write about it truthfully?

I don’t go off and sit down and try to write material, because then it’s contrived and forced. I just live my life, and I see things in a word or a situation or a concept, and it will create a joke for me.

In my younger days, I was trying to write sophisticated prose and fantastic stories.

I’m not a big believer in trying to jam stuff down somebody’s throat: ‚You’re going to do it my way.‘ I’d rather show by example and live my life and have people say, ‚You know what, I want to live like Joel has. He’s got peace and joy, and he seems content.‘

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

The future is like heaven, everyone exalts it, but no one wants to go there now.

I want to thank The Beatles for almost single-handedly getting me out of writer’s block.

Naturally, my stories are about women – I’m a woman. I don’t know what the term is for men who write mostly about men. I’m not always sure what is meant by ‚feminist.‘ In the beginning, I used to say, ‚Well, of course I’m a feminist.‘ But if it means that I follow a kind of feminist theory, or know anything about it, then I’m not.

Don’t only practice your art, but force your way into its secrets; art deserves that, for it and knowledge can raise man to the Divine.

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

Writing is such a strange, utterly mysterious process. First, there was nothing; then, suddenly, there was something. I don’t know where thoughts are born. Where the hell does it come from? I don’t know. I really don’t know.

No pressure, no diamonds.

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

Children always turn to the light.

To all the musicians who are making reggaeton, let’s put some more effort into it and bring something new to the people!

He who has faith has… an inward reservoir of courage, hope, confidence, calmness, and assuring trust that all will come out well – even though to the world it may appear to come out most badly.

Write down the thoughts of the moment. Those that come unsought for are commonly the most valuable.

Don’t be too harsh to these poems until they’re typed. I always think typescript lends some sort of certainty: at least, if the things are bad then, they appear to be bad with conviction.

Our chief want is someone who will inspire us to be what we know we could be.

The foundation of every state is the education of its youth.

If you had a million Shakespeares, could they write like a monkey?

The Paralympic Games is about transforming our perception of the world.

If I haven’t any talent for writing books or newspaper articles, well, then I can always write for myself.

One element of Madonna’s career that really takes center stage is how many times she’s reinvented herself. It’s easier to stay in one look, one comfort zone, one musical style. It’s inspiring to see someone whose only predictable quality is being unpredictable.

Neither a wise man nor a brave man lies down on the tracks of history to wait for the train of the future to run over him.

You don’t write because you want to say something, you write because you have something to say.

Despite everything, I believe that people are really good at heart.

To be great is to be misunderstood.

It’s a blessing that South Africa has a man like Nelson Mandela.

I loved writing for kids, I loved talking to children about what I’d written, I don’t want to leave that behind.

My entire childhood was steeped in poverty. For me, poverty, in a way, was the first inspiration of my life, a commitment to do something for the poor.

I’ve never been a very prolific person, so when creativity flows, it flows. I find myself scribbling on little notepads and pieces of loose paper, which results in a very small portion of my writings to ever show up in true form.

Excessive literary production is a social offense.

If you are lucky enough to find something that you love, and you have a shot at being good at it, don’t stop, don’t put it down.

While working on my first five books, I kept wishing I was writing a novel. I thought until you wrote a novel, you weren’t taken seriously as a writer. It used to trouble me a lot, but nothing troubles me now, and besides, there has been a change. I think short stories are taken more seriously now than they were.

Does wisdom perhaps appear on the earth as a raven which is inspired by the smell of carrion?

Working with a guy like Ice Cube on ‚Ride Along,‘ you learn so much. He’s a guy who produces, writes, and directs, so you watch and learn and ask questions. As you go, you learn and figure out what you should and shouldn’t do. I do nothing but soak up information.

When I write, the story is always uppermost in my mind, and I feel that everything must be sacrificed to it. All elegant passages, all the curious details, all the so-called beautiful writing – if they are not truly relevant to what I am trying to say, then they have to go.

I’ve read the last page of the Bible. It’s all going to turn out all right.

Even if I knew that tomorrow the world would go to pieces, I would still plant my apple tree.

I wish I could play bass like Larry Graham or Bootsy Collins. My God, I’d give up just about everything else for that.

I never have an intended audience. I just write, you know.

The wicked leader is he who the people despise. The good leader is he who the people revere. The great leader is he who the people say, ‚We did it ourselves.‘

Look up at the stars and not down at your feet. Try to make sense of what you see, and wonder about what makes the universe exist. Be curious.

We’re all dreamers.

There are two ways of exerting one’s strength: one is pushing down, the other is pulling up.

Great things are done by a series of small things brought together.

I go to school the youth to learn the future.

Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm.

The sun is gone, but I have a light.