Inspiration quotes

How oft the sight of means to do ill deeds makes ill deeds done!

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.

If you only believe that you’re an artist when you have a big advance in your pocket and a single coming out, I would say that’s quite soulless. You have to have a sense of your own greatness and your own ability from a very deep place inside you. I am the one with the litmus test in my hands of what people need to hear next.

On Sundays when I speak, I hopefully give somebody something that they can use the next day at work or at home.

Opportunity dances with those already on the dance floor.

America is a poem in our eyes; its ample geography dazzles the imagination, and it will not wait long for metres.

Every production of genius must be the production of enthusiasm.

Men are born to succeed, not to fail.

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.‘

When you’re around me and really see that all I do is live and breathe for my work, it’s not strange, it’s just Gaga.

When I hear music, I fear no danger. I am invulnerable. I see no foe. I am related to the earliest times, and to the latest.

When a person is going through hell, and she encounters someone who went through hellish hell and survived, then she can say, ‚Mine is not so bad as all that. She came through, and so can I.‘

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.‘

Great hearts steadily send forth the secret forces that incessantly draw great events.

The God who gave us life, gave us liberty at the same time.

To affect the quality of the day, that is the highest of arts.

Everything is my demon muse. I have a muse which whispers in my ear and says, ‚Do this, do that,‘ but it’s my demon who provokes me.

I just love Bowie. I think he’s the ultimate inventor.

My career as Nipsey Hussle is based on my life as Ermias Asghedom.

Though I do not believe that a plant will spring up where no seed has been, I have great faith in a seed… Convince me that you have a seed there, and I am prepared to expect wonders.

Personally, I think the best motto for an educational establishment is: ‚Or Would You Rather Be a Mule?‘

How I love David Bowie.

My production and songwriting and the environment around those vocals are not inspired by R&B at all.

Early on, I was so impressed with Charles Dickens. I grew up in the South, in a little village in Arkansas, and the whites in my town were really mean, and rude. Dickens, I could tell, wouldn’t be a man who would curse me out and talk to me rudely.

Once we start to act, hope is everywhere. So instead of looking for hope, look for action. Then, and only then, hope will come.

All difficult things have their origin in that which is easy, and great things in that which is small.

Life is a song to me.

Growing up I’ve watched Lewis and aspired to have some of his attributes, mainly his speed. His raw pace is probably the best of everyone on the whole grid, so there are bits you want from different drivers.

I think a number of the leaders are, whether you like it or not, in the hip-hop generation. And when they understand enough, they’ll do wonders. I count on them.

Our best thoughts come from others.

It’s like a jar of salad dressing sitting on a shelf… most of the seasoning settles to the bottom of the bottle. But when you shake that bottle up, all the ingredients mix together and then the dressing can add flavor to a salad. In the same way, we can stir ourselves up and regain the reverence, respect and awe we once had for the Lord.

I’m a songwriter. Everything affects me.

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!

Nature is full of genius, full of the divinity; so that not a snowflake escapes its fashioning hand.

The greatest story of all is Colonel Sanders. He didn’t start until he was sixty-six on a freeway bypass for his chicken shop. Anything is possible!

There’s hope for everyone. That’s what makes the world go round.

O, had I but followed the arts!

To take a few nouns, and a few pronouns, and adverbs and adjectives, and put them together, ball them up, and throw them against the wall to make them bounce. That’s what Norman Mailer did. That’s what James Baldwin did, and Joan Didion did, and that’s what I do – that’s what I mean to do.

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.

Faith Hill is a big role model.

Once I planned to write a book of poems entirely about the things in my pocket. But I found it would be too long; and the age of the great epics is past.

Every man I meet is in some way my superior.

Keep your eyes on the stars, and your feet on the ground.

I love the song ‚I Hope You Dance‘ by Lee Ann Womack. I was going to write that song, but someone beat me to it.

Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.

You can’t die with an unfinished book.

When younger writers and poets, musicians and painters are weakened by a stemming of funds, they come to me saddened, not as full of dreams and excitement and ideas. I am then weakened and diminished, and made less rich.

Always have something beautiful in sight, even if it’s just a daisy in a jelly glass.

When I’m writing a record, I kind of don’t listen to much music. Just because I want to be inspired solely on the emotion; just based on how it feels.

The most miraculous process is watching a song go from a tiny idea in the middle of the night to something that 55,000 people are singing back to you.

If I’m the people’s poet, then I ought to be in people’s hands – and, I hope, in their heart.

I write some country music. There’s a song called ‚I Hope You Dance.‘ Incredible. I was going to write that poem; somebody beat me to it.

My drive is other people’s success.

I ain’t never far away from a pencil and paper or a tape recorder.

Genius, when young, is divine.

Whenever I’m around some who is modest, I think, ‚Run like hell and all of fire.‘ You don’t want modesty, you want humility.

I’m trying to throw a big broad net to try to get people interested in God and believe that He’s for them and has a purpose.

When nature has work to be done, she creates a genius to do it.

God wants to use you to make other people happy! And the happier you make others, the happier you will be because you reap what you sow.

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.