The artist alone sees spirits. But after he has told of their appearing to him, everybody sees them.

Technique is really personality. That is the reason why the artist cannot teach it, why the pupil cannot learn it, and why the aesthetic critic can understand it.

We have the resources to build room for a trillion humans in this solar system, and when we have a trillion humans, we’ll have a thousand Einsteins and a thousand Mozarts. It will be a way more interesting place to live.

Fiction is based on reality unless you’re a fairytale artist.

‚Tis strange what a man may do, and a woman yet think him an angel.

So many people have this idea: I want to achieve something great or be somebody great. And they neglect the step that leads to greatness. They don’t honor this step at this moment because they have this idea of some future moment where they are going to be great.

I wouldn’t put myself forward to do a film like ‚Changeling‘ if I thought I couldn’t pull people into a story because of all the other ways people see me.

It’s a curse. I ask God to take this away from me all the time. I do not like being an artist.

Men are disturbed not by things, but by the view which they take of them.

I’ve been blessed to be somebody that’s been climbing that success mountain top for years of hard work, you know, but now it’s all connecting. And now, the whole world is watching, you know what I’m saying, and it feels good ‚cause it’s good energy. This is all positive vibes, and good vibes and good energy, so it feels incredible.

Security is, I would say, our top priority because for all the exciting things you will be able to do with computers – organizing your lives, staying in touch with people, being creative – if we don’t solve these security problems, then people will hold back.

A collection is not just one basic idea. It comes from something that is in the air, something you suddenly like and put down on paper and then work out.

The eyes of others our prisons; their thoughts our cages.

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.

The book that convinced me I wanted to be a writer was ‚Crime and Punishment‘. I put the thing down after reading it in a fever over two or three days… I said, ‚If this is what a book can be, then that is what I want to do.‘

As soon as I hear a sound, it always suggests a mood to me.

Even if you have nothing to write, write and say so.

Just because you like my stuff doesn’t mean I owe you anything.

Consistency is the last refuge of the unimaginative.

The darkness is really out there. It’s not something that’s in my head, just. It’s in my work because it’s in the world.

If your determination is fixed, I do not counsel you to despair. Few things are impossible to diligence and skill. Great works are performed not by strength, but perseverance.

I read all the time, and I’m often struck by something I’m reading.

Without art, the crudeness of reality would make the world unbearable.

A person hears only what they understand.

You can never solve a problem on the level on which it was created.

The problem is that at a lot of big companies, process becomes a substitute for thinking. You’re encouraged to behave like a little gear in a complex machine. Frankly, it allows you to keep people who aren’t that smart, who aren’t that creative.

He that lives upon hope will die fasting.

Funny thing is that the poorer people are, the more generous they seem to be.

The debt we owe to the play of imagination is incalculable.

It is the supreme art of the teacher to awaken joy in creative expression and knowledge.

The more I think about it, the more I realize there is nothing more artistic than to love others.

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

When Hillary was First Lady, we went to the Beijing Women’s Conference. She courageously stood up and spoke out on behalf of human rights and women’s rights, inspiring millions to fight for a better future.

Enthusiasm is the yeast that makes your hopes shine to the stars. Enthusiasm is the sparkle in your eyes, the swing in your gait. The grip of your hand, the irresistible surge of will and energy to execute your ideas.

There are few cases in which mere popularity should be considered a proper test of merit; but the case of song-writing is, I think, one of the few.

Some people think luxury is the opposite of poverty. It is not. It is the opposite of vulgarity.

All art is quite useless.

The difference between false memories and true ones is the same as for jewels: it is always the false ones that look the most real, the most brilliant.

Illusion is the first of all pleasures.

I think writing really helps you heal yourself. I think if you write long enough, you will be a healthy person. That is, if you write what you need to write, as opposed to what will make money, or what will make fame.

Writing makes you feel that there is a reason to go on living. If I couldn’t write, I would stop breathing.

I dream of painting and then I paint my dream.

I’m inspired by Walt Disney. I’m inspired by Howard Hughes. I’m inspired by Henry Ford. I’m inspired by Steve Jobs. I mean, I’m inspired by James Perse.

I think the idea of art kills creativity.

Irregularity and want of method are only supportable in men of great learning or genius, who are often too full to be exact, and therefore they choose to throw down their pearls in heaps before the reader, rather than be at the pains of stringing them.

If I make music and people hate it, you know, whatever. I’ll die someday, and one day, they will too.

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.

A celebrated people lose dignity upon a closer view.

I’m gonna make what I want to make, and other people are gonna like what they’re gonna like. It doesn’t really matter.

You can’t do it unless you can imagine it.

I don’t think of all the misery but of the beauty that still remains.

I enjoy being involved in making the artwork for albums and stupid stuff like that.

Ideas are the beginning points of all fortunes.

It seems that when you have cancer you are a brave battler against the disease, but when you have Alzheimer’s you are an old fart. That’s how people see you. It makes you feel quite alone.

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

There are only 3 colors, 10 digits, and 7 notes; its what we do with them that’s important.

The empires of the future are the empires of the mind.

Nothing is more fearful than imagination without taste.

They say somebody’s ‚street smart.‘ I feel like, if I got intelligence, it’s just a country smart.

Writing is a solitary experience. I’m extremely superstitious. If I talk about the book or name the title out loud before finishing, I feel the energy I need to write will be drained. It’s so intimate, I can’t even share it with my wife.

An artist needn’t be a clergyman or a churchwarden, but he certainly must have a warm heart for his fellow men.