The bravest person I’ve ever met was a young boy going through massive amounts of treatment for a very rare, complex and unpleasant disease. I last saw him at a Discworld convention, where he chose to take part in a game as an assassin. He died not long afterwards, and I wish I had his fortitude and sense of style.

In spite of everything I shall rise again: I will take up my pencil, which I have forsaken in my great discouragement, and I will go on with my drawing.

You can write a song about being in love with someone, but you don’t have to be in love with anyone.

Our Lord has written the promise of resurrection, not in books alone, but in every leaf in springtime.

Never lose a holy curiosity.

Our brand of democracy is hard. But I can promise that a year from now, when I no longer hold this office, I’ll be right there with you as a citizen – inspired by those voices of fairness and vision, of grit and good humor and kindness that have helped America travel so far.

One must work and dare if one really wants to live.

I couldn’t have written things like ‚Low‘ and ‚Heroes,‘ those particular albums, if it hadn’t have been for Berlin and the kind of atmosphere I felt there.

Every moment is an organizing opportunity, every person a potential activist, every minute a chance to change the world.

A word is dead when it is said, some say. I say it just begins to live that day.

I like nonsense; it wakes up the brain cells.

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.‘

To confine our attention to terrestrial matters would be to limit the human spirit.

Who is more to be pitied, a writer bound and gagged by policemen or one living in perfect freedom who has nothing more to say?

I don’t know how many good books I still have in me; I hope there are another four or five.

Over the course of my career in law enforcement, I have witnessed over and over again the selflessness and sacrifice of law enforcement who lay their lives on the line every day to protect people who they will never meet and people who will never know their names.

If we are marked to die, we are enough to do our country loss; and if to live, the fewer men, the greater share of honor.

Ambition can creep as well as soar.

It was times like these when I thought my father, who hated guns and had never been to any wars, was the bravest man who ever lived.

Live to learn, and you will really learn to live.

Find your voice and inspire others to find theirs.

I love to see a young girl go out and grab the world by the lapels.

Life must be lived and curiosity kept alive. One must never, for whatever reason, turn his back on life.

There wasn’t much as a kid that inspired me in what I did as an adult, but I was always very interested in what motivates people, and in telling stories and building things.

Sometimes, if you begin to sing in a halfhearted mood, you can sing yourself up the ladder. Singing will often make the heart rise.

If you cannot do great things, do small things in a great way.

Our moments of inspiration are not lost though we have no particular poem to show for them; for those experiences have left an indelible impression, and we are ever and anon reminded of them.

You have to dream before your dreams can come true.

There is nothing that makes its way more directly into the soul than beauty.

I often get ideas for songs on the tour bus at odd times. Like at 6am when no one is around, I’d just write.

My superhero has always been Tendulkar, and it will be Tendulkar for life. He is someone who has inspired me immensely. Just watching him play for India, I used to dream of winning games for India, because he used to do it single handedly.

All our dreams can come true, if we have the courage to pursue them.

I only type every third night. I have no plan. My mind is a blank. I sit down. The typewriter gives me things I don’t even know I’m working on. It’s a free lunch. A free dinner. I don’t know how long it is going to continue, but so far there is nothing easier than writing.

When your dream is bigger than you are, you only have two choices: give up or get help.

There is nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and bleed.

Unless and until you inspire the people, you will not get results. Imposition will never give you the results. Inspiration will always give you the results.

What is past is prologue.

Someone is sitting in the shade today because someone planted a tree a long time ago.

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

This thing of being a hero, about the main thing to it is to know when to die.

Many of my fans often tell me that they listen to my songs to get through things. And therefore, obviously, I hope that they can picture being in a place where things are better… I hope my songs can bring people to a calm place.

O, had I but followed the arts!

As a songwriter, you respect and appreciate the writings of other people, and I often get asked, are there songs out there I wish I’d written? Yes. There’s many of them!

Brave men rejoice in adversity, just as brave soldiers triumph in war.

What kind of people do they think we are? Is it possible they do not realize that we shall never cease to persevere against them until they have been taught a lesson which they and the world will never forget?

One thing that writers have in common is that they are readers first. They have read lots and lots of stuff, because they’re just infested with lots of stuff.

Hope is the thing with feathers that perches in the soul – and sings the tunes without the words – and never stops at all.

Poetry is a way of taking life by the throat.

Great dreams of great dreamers are always transcended.

I am a walking piece of art every day, with my dreams and my ambitions forward at all times in an effort to inspire my fans to lead their life in that way.

No sanction can stand against ignited minds.

The poet, being an imitator like a painter or any other artist, must of necessity imitate one of three objects – things as they were or are, things as they are said or thought to be, or things as they ought to be. The vehicle of expression is language – either current terms or, it may be, rare words or metaphors.

If you pour your life into songs, you want them to be heard. It’s a desire to communicate. A deep desire to communicate inspires songwriting.

Because of a great love, one is courageous.

It’s so clear that you have to cherish everyone. I think that’s what I get from these older black women, that every soul is to be cherished, that every flower Is to bloom.

I sometimes wish I were suffering in a good cause, or risking my life for the good of others, instead of just being a gravely endangered patient.

A loving heart is the truest wisdom.

Every man I meet is in some way my superior.

People grow through experience if they meet life honestly and courageously. This is how character is built.

You see something, then it clicks with something else, and it will make a story. But you never know when it’s going to happen.

As a shame researcher, I know that the very best thing to do in the midst of a shame attack is totally counterintuitive: Practice courage and reach out!