The artist forges himself to the others, midway between the beauty he cannot do without and the community he cannot tear himself away from. That is why true artists scorn nothing: they are obliged to understand rather than to judge.

But innovation comes from people meeting up in the hallways or calling each other at 10:30 at night with a new idea, or because they realized something that shoots holes in how we’ve been thinking about a problem.

To God everything is beautiful, good, and just; humans, however, think some things are unjust and others just.

If my films don’t show a profit, I know I’m doing something right.

You are remembered for the rules you break.

Objects in pictures should so be arranged as by their very position to tell their own story.

I think it’s important as an artist to never forget where you’re from.

I would get out of school and go straight to my computer to create beats.

Being part of a community with a church at its centre and singin‘ hymns is a great thing to do.

A common mistake that people make when trying to design something completely foolproof is to underestimate the ingenuity of complete fools.

If one does not understand a person, one tends to regard him as a fool.

I design things to help people to hopefully express their personality.

I kind of make a film for myself to sort of express myself.

People take the little bit of information they’re fed, and they draw a picture of who you are. Most of the time, it’s wrong.

If I was just a fan of music, I would think that I was the number one artist in the world.

Searching for music is like searching for God. They’re very similar. There’s an effort to reclaim the unmentionable, the unsayable, the unseeable, the unspeakable, all those things, comes into being a composer and to writing music and to searching for notes and pieces of musical information that don’t exist.

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

You can’t wait for inspiration. You have to go after it with a club.

Saying nothing… sometimes says the most.

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

The best leaders understand the motivations of their team members and know their people – their lives and their families. But a leader must never grow so close to subordinates that one member of the team becomes more important than another, or more important than the mission itself.

Good ideas are free – or at least they should be.

How vain it is to sit down to write when you have not stood up to live.

I am growing handsome very fast indeed! I expect I shall be the belle of Amherst when I reach my 17th year. I don’t doubt that I shall have perfect crowds of admirers at that age. Then how I shall delight to make them await my bidding, and with what delight shall I witness their suspense while I make my final decision.

No person who is not a great sculptor or painter can be an architect. If he is not a sculptor or painter, he can only be a builder.

There is no subject so old that something new cannot be said about it.

Consistency is the last refuge of the unimaginative.

One’s past is what one is. It is the only way by which people should be judged.

I mean, what would I be doing if I couldn’t write? But that fortunately hasn’t proved to be the case and I can read any day. I still read a lot, and I can write any day, but much more slowly and fewer words.

There are a thousand thoughts lying within a man that he does not know till he takes up a pen to write.

Nobody cares how much you know, until they know how much you care.

I thought it was magic to be able to catch something identically on tape and then be able to play around with it, run it backwards; I thought that was great for years.

To study the abnormal is the best way of understanding the normal.

If you do things, whether it’s acting or music or painting, do it without fear – that’s my philosophy. Because nobody can arrest you and put you in jail if you paint badly, so there’s nothing to lose.

I used to – my earliest memory of waking up with a melody in my head was, you know, 8, 9, 10. I’ve always heard kind of melodies in my head.

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

Nature, like man, sometimes weeps from gladness.

Instead of stubbornly attempting to use surrealism for purposes of subversion, it is necessary to try to make of surrealism something as solid, complete and classic as the works of museums.

When ideas fail, words come in very handy.

Truth is beautiful, without doubt; but so are lies.

To attain any assured knowledge about the soul is one of the most difficult things in the world.

Whatever is on the page is what I’m married to. I’m very prepared. I’m a thespian. I don’t like to improv. I don’t like to go off course ‚cause I think that’s where stuff happens. When you stick to the material ‚cause it’s written so well, that’s where the magic happens.

Most damage that others do us is out of fear, humiliation and pain. Those feelings occur in all of us, not just in those of us who profess a certain religious or racial devotion.

My focus is my art, and that’s what I love to do. I have to be really passionate in order to do something. I’ve turned down many things that I just didn’t believe in.

Could a greater miracle take place than for us to look through each other’s eyes for an instant?

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.

Wealthy men can’t live in an island that is encircled by poverty. We all breathe the same air. We must give a chance to everyone, at least a basic chance.

Before I do anything, I think, well what hasn’t been seen. Sometimes, that turns out to be something ghastly and not fit for society. And sometimes that inspiration becomes something that’s really worthwhile.

Change happens by listening and then starting a dialogue with the people who are doing something you don’t believe is right.

For so many people, television and movies may be the only way they understand people who aren’t like them.

The coniferous forests of the Yosemite Park, and of the Sierra in general, surpass all others of their kind in America, or indeed the world, not only in the size and beauty of the trees, but in the number of species assembled together, and the grandeur of the mountains they are growing on.

You pity the fool because you don’t want to beat up a fool! You know, pity is between sorry and mercy. See, if you pity him, you know, you won’t have to beat him up. So that’s why I say fools, you gotta give another chance because they don’t know no better. That’s why I pity them!

Let us more and more insist on raising funds of love, of kindness, of understanding, of peace. Money will come if we seek first the Kingdom of God – the rest will be given.

I think that by staying true to myself and making music from my heart, the blessings come.

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.

Every man prefers belief to the exercise of judgment.

I am deeply grateful to the citizens of Sarajevo and the Sarajevo Canton assembly for bestowing upon me this incredible honor of citizenship. I am so proud to now be a part of such an extraordinary part of the world and fellow citizen to the people I deeply love and admire.

I’m convinced that no one can amount to a damn in the arts if he becomes sweetly reasonable, seeing all sides of a picture, forgiving all sins.

My belief is that we were put into this world of wonders and beauty with a special ability to appreciate them, in some cases to have the fun of taking a hand in developing them, and also in being able to help other people instead of overreaching them and, through it all, to enjoy life – that is, to be happy.

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

When I’m 40 and nobody wants to see me in a sparkly dress anymore, I’ll be like: ‚Cool, I’ll just go in the studio and write songs for kids.‘