Today, I’d like to talk to Bob Marley. I’d just like to ask him what was his method. Bob is one of the greatest songwriters ever. I don’t know if people understand how powerful his songs are and the simplicity and genius behind them, from ‚Redemption Song‘ to ‚Is This Love?‘ and ‚I Shot the Sheriff.‘

Genius might be the ability to say a profound thing in a simple way.

I’ve made over 25 studio albums, and I think probably I’ve made two real stinkers in my time, and some not-bad albums, and some really good albums. I’m proud of what I’ve done. In fact it’s been a good ride.

When I did ‚Bird,‘ it was a surprise to some people, first because I wasn’t in it and second because most of the films I’d been doing were cop movies or westerns or adventure films, so to be doing one about Charlie Parker, who was a great influence on American music, was a great thrill for me.

Sometimes I write about my own life. And sometimes I write about situations I see my friends going through. Sometimes I write about a scene I saw in a movie. I take inspiration from all different places.

I play piano and ukulele, and I taught myself those things just because I wanted to play them.

Getting a great idea with song writing is a lot like love. You don’t know why this one is different, but it is. You don’t know why this one is better, but it is. It sticks in your head, and you can’t stop thinking about it.

Through perseverance many people win success out of what seemed destined to be certain failure.

I would love to work with Eminem, Dr. Dre. I wish I could have been in the studio with Bob Marley.

My nails are my rhythm section when I’m writing a song all alone. Some day, I may cut an album, just me and my nails.

Imagination is more important than knowledge.

I guess I’m just inspired to tell stories.

I always wanted to operate at the highest altitude, just in terms of hip-hop and the music.

Pretty much my whole life, I’ve been a performer and have loved singing and writing songs in my room for my own ears.

Find your voice and inspire others to find theirs.

And you find as a writer there are certain spots on the planet where you write better than others, and I believe in that. And New Orleans is one of them.

For me to talk with Obama and the conversation I had with him, I was letting him know that me and my fans have a special connection, and it’s love, and I believe that love is the answer.

If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle. As with all matters of the heart, you’ll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on.

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.

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

The only limit to our realization of tomorrow will be our doubts of today.

There is a fundamental question we all have to face. How are we to live our lives; by what principles and moral values will we be guided and inspired?

Heroes may not be braver than anyone else. They’re just braver five minutes longer.

Every once in a while, I get mad. ‚The Lorax‘ came out of my being angry. The ecology books I’d read were dull… In ‚The Lorax,‘ I was out to attack what I think are evil things and let the chips fall where they might.

I wish I could make music about politics. I feel like it’s such an art and a talent that I admire tremendously, but when I step into the studio, I step out of the real world, and it’s therapeutic.

Scripture is filled with examples of men and women whom God used late in life, often with great impact – men and women who refused to use old age as an excuse to ignore what God wanted them to do.

Stories surge up out of nowhere, and if they feel compelling, you follow them. You let them unfold inside you and see where they are going to lead.

This world is but a canvas to our imagination.

Your personal history is a part of what happens with your hands and your head as you play music.

O! for a muse of fire, that would ascend the brightest heaven of invention.

Somebody once asked me what my theory of life was, and I said, ‚Don’t try.‘ That fits the writing, too. I don’t try; I just type.

People think you have to go through something to write about it, and you absolutely do not. You can write about, like, a shoe. It’s a story.

My style influences my music and everything around me.

The strongest influences in my life and my work are always whomever I love. Whomever I love and am with most of the time, or whomever I remember most vividly. I think that’s true of everyone, don’t you?

If you ever see young artists, and they’re not sounding good, they sound good. They’re good singers. They wouldn’t be where they are if they didn’t sound good. It’s their nerves. Any time you see your favorite artist, and he’s or she’s screwing up or not hitting those notes, it’s not because she can’t hit it or she can’t sing; he or she is scared.

I know people said I wasn’t selling out in America, but that was entirely untrue. We sold out all over the world, and every night I looked out into the fans and those front rows that you’re talking about, the tears, the honesty, the inability to not be completely overjoyed because they felt accepted.

We shall never know all the good that a simple smile can do.

My grandfather once ventured upon publishing a volume of hymns. I never heard anyone speak in their favour or argue that they ought to have been sung in the congregation. In that volume, he promised a second if the first should prove acceptable. We forgive him the first collection because he did not inflict another.

Robert Fripp and I will be recording another LP very soon. It should be even more monotonous than the first one!

I’m just writing, writing, writing. I keep these tablets on me until I’m inspired to go back in and make the music. I never take a break from my pen, because I pride myself on that.

If I’m gonna write songs about my exes, they can write songs about me. That’s how it works.

I really wish I knew what I was doing because I’d be writing hit songs every minute.

I wanted to drop three albums in a year because no one had done it. It was bold, unheard of.

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

I would rather entertain and hope that people learned something than educate people and hope they were entertained.

Do not quench your inspiration and your imagination; do not become the slave of your model.

Sometimes our light goes out but is blown into flame by another human being. Each of us owes deepest thanks to those who have rekindled this light.

While musical experts of the world focus on what choir members can do, I would like to focus on what choir members can be.

The purest and most thoughtful minds are those which love colour the most.

I still wanna rap better than everybody else, and I wanna say important things.

I’m really bad with answering questions. Usually, I don’t even answer them. I try to find inspiration inside of the question. I think, and I jump from one beam of inspiration or energy to the next, as opposed to explaining the energy.

I was arrested for lip-syncing karaoke.

The point about melody and beat and lyric is that they exist to engage you in a very particular way. They want to occupy your attention.

I draw from the crowd a lot.

Action may not always bring happiness; but there is no happiness without action.

Teachers can change lives with just the right mix of chalk and challenges.

I went through all the musicians in my life who I admire as bright, intelligent, virtuosic players.

Man, I’m the No. 1 living and breathing rock star. I am Axl Rose; I am Jim Morrison; I am Jimi Hendrix.

Music is one of the most powerful things the world has to offer. No matter what race or religion or nationality or sexual orientation or gender that you are, it has the power to unite us.

Pursue some path, however narrow and crooked, in which you can walk with love and reverence.

I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made straight and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it together.