The ruling passion, be it what it will. The ruling passion conquers reason still.

It vexes me when they would constrain science by the authority of the Scriptures, and yet do not consider themselves bound to answer reason and experiment.

Why, except as a means of livelihood, a man should desire to act on the stage when he has the whole world to act in, is not clear to me.

And I try to give the best bang for the buck. I love performing more than anything else.

We write for the same reason that we walk, talk, climb mountains or swim the oceans – because we can. We have some impulse within us that makes us want to explain ourselves to other human beings. That’s why we paint, that’s why we dare to love someone – because we have the impulse to explain who we are.

There is always some madness in love. But there is also always some reason in madness.

I loved what I did. I could’ve been secretary of state for ever.

Truly fertile Music, the only kind that will move us, that we shall truly appreciate, will be a Music conducive to Dream, which banishes all reason and analysis. One must not wish first to understand and then to feel. Art does not tolerate Reason.

I’d have stopped writing years ago if it were for the money.

Playing basketball all my life, I’ve collected a lot of different basketball shoes. It’s pretty much all I wear.

The way to see by Faith is to shut the Eye of Reason.

What is success? I think it is a mixture of having a flair for the thing that you are doing; knowing that it is not enough, that you have got to have hard work and a certain sense of purpose.

Whatever I have tried to do in life, I have tried with all my heart to do it well; whatever I have devoted myself to, I have devoted myself completely; in great aims and in small I have always thoroughly been in earnest.

Stand-up comedy is mine: it’s my entity; it’s my brand; I own it. I do it when I want to do it.

Cooking is about passion, so it may look slightly temperamental in a way that it’s too assertive to the naked eye.

I never wanted to be a scientist per se. I wanted to be a naturalist.

Aptitude found in the understanding and is often inherited. Genius coming from reason and imagination, rarely.

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

I love my job, but it’s more than that: I need it.

The intensity of the football and how the people live football in Liverpool – it is not a usual.

Love has reasons which reason cannot understand.

We can be thankful to a friend for a few acres, or a little money; and yet for the freedom and command of the whole earth, and for the great benefits of our being, our life, health, and reason, we look upon ourselves as under no obligation.

I was always interested – I mean, it’s kind of part of your job – I was always interested in the camera.

When I’m really interested in something, I get superfocused on that. And I can spend hours upon hours not getting tired of reading about it and still be interested to learn more about it.

So many people think of me as a character on TV, but first and foremost, my passion is teaching dance and creating employable, working dancers.

It’s very fun to be the hunter of the sounds. The hunter of the right energy. And it’s not really about if every sound is correct; it’s more the energy – if it hits you in some way, it doesn’t really matter to me if it’s not perfect. I’m still very excited while hunting for songs.

Reason is the enemy of faith.

If you’re a surfer, you just want to surf. You don’t know if anyone’s going to see you, and you don’t really care if they see you. You just live for that feeling.

Anything that encourages people to pick up an instrument and play, I’m fully behind.

I was always interested in French poetry sort of as a sideline to my own work, I was translating contemporary French poets. That kind of spilled out into translation as a way to earn money, pay for food and put bread on the table.

I had a rough childhood coming up, and I just took all that negative energy and made it very positive for myself to drive me. I’m a very driven person. I have passion that almost scares people, just to be successful and make it no matter what.

For as the eyes of bats are to the blaze of day, so is the reason in our soul to the things which are by nature most evident of all.

Sure, I can get a little bit jealous. The good part about jealousy is that it comes from passion. It’s also the dangerous part and it’s an ugly emotion that hurts.

When I stop working the rest of the day is posthumous. I’m only really alive when I’m writing.

As an artist your first loyalty is to your art. Unless this is the case, you’re going to be a second-rate artist.

The only passion that guides me is for the truth… I look at everything from this point of view.

I only act from my heart.

I tried acting, liked it, and stuck with it. I saw it as the way I would keep that promise to myself of getting back at those who had made my school life a misery.

I am a professional sportswriter, among other things, and I take the games seriously. It is only one of my many powerful addictions, and I don’t mind admitting any of them.

You must stay drunk on writing so reality cannot destroy you.

When you are enthusiastic about what you do, you feel this positive energy. It’s very simple.

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.

O, you men who think or say that I am malevolent, stubborn or misanthropic, how greatly do you wrong me. You do not know the secret cause which makes me seem that way to you, and I would have ended my life – it was only my art that held me back. Ah, it seemed impossible to leave the world until I had brought forth all that I felt was within me.

I just want to keep writing music.

If a man has not discovered something that he will die for, he isn’t fit to live.

On life’s vast ocean diversely we sail. Reasons the card, but passion the gale.

Reason has always existed, but not always in a reasonable form.

It takes up enough of my time and interest just working on comedy. I just enjoy it and love doing it.

Faith must trample under foot all reason, sense, and understanding.

An artist or a creative person of any kind goes about their work because it’s their path, it’s what excites them, it’s what aligns their soul with who they truly are, who they showed up to be.

There are many things I do where the centre of it is… It’s almost more my humanitarian work than art.

I like having my hands in the clay. I like the movie-making process.

Love many things, for therein lies the true strength, and whosoever loves much performs much, and can accomplish much, and what is done in love is done well.

Football (soccer) is a matter of life and death, except more important.

Prejudices are what fools use for reason.

Art is not a thing; it is a way.

The things that transfixed you as a child, that you found most exciting was not a passing fancy, but a message about what you’re supposed to do.

The answer to all writing, to any career for that matter, is love.

Music is really driving my whole life.

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.

I’ve always wanted to make a career in the arts, and I think that my only hope at doing that is to make it more about the work.