We represent a hustler. I think we represent inspiration. I think we represent, you know, staying down. I think we represent building yourself up from the bootstraps.

People want to listen to a message, word from Jah. This could be passed through me or anybody. I am not a leader. Messenger. The words of the songs, not the person, is what attracts people.

Nothing is impossible, the word itself says ‚I’m possible‘!

The genesis of a poem for me is usually a cluster of words. The only good metaphor I can think of is a scientific one: dipping a thread into a supersaturated solution to induce crystal formation. I don’t think I solve problems in my poetry; I think I uncover the problems.

My job is to bring out in people what they wouldn’t dare do themselves.

Because of your smile, you make life more beautiful.

You ask me if I keep a notebook to record my great ideas. I’ve only ever had one.

In the depth of winter I finally learned that there was in me an invincible summer.

As much as I love the Western genre, I figured if I kept doing those, I’d eventually run out of steam on that, and that would’ve been the end of it.

Billy Graham is one of my great lifetime heroes. I think he epitomizes the essence of what a Christian leader should be. I have participated in some of his crusades a couple of times in Atlanta. I’ve seen the profound impact he’s had on me personally, and on other people who were not Christians and accepted Christ as Savior.

Cast away your sloth, your lethargy, your coldness, or whatever interferes with your chaste and pure love for Christ, your soul’s husband. Make Him the source, the center, and the circumference of all your soul’s range of delight.

Courage is knowing what not to fear.

Take a chance! All life is a chance. The man who goes farthest is generally the one who is willing to do and dare.

I want to thank The Beatles for almost single-handedly getting me out of writer’s block.

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

What makes life dreary is the want of a motive.

The task of the modern educator is not to cut down jungles, but to irrigate deserts.

Energy begets energy.

Always the beautiful answer who asks a more beautiful question.

Thousands of candles can be lighted from a single candle, and the life of the candle will not be shortened. Happiness never decreases by being shared.

I always say I wanna work with Alicia Keys. I’m in awe of her.

Thought is the wind and knowledge the sail.

A lot of people don’t realise I came out of the Smoky Mountains with a load of songs.

There are half a dozen subjects that I return to time and time again, and that doesn’t bother me. Because most of my favorite writers do that, to hunt down the same topic or theme from different directions each time.

Green Eggs and Ham was the story of my life. I wouldn’t eat a thing when I was a kid, but Dr. Seuss inspired me to try cauliflower!

A word after a word after a word is power.

The wisest hustler can suddenly fall for the worst tramp and lose all of his money on her. The hustler is aware of his own weaknesses and openings to con. This awareness is his edge.

My favorite literary heroine is Jo March. It is hard to overstate what she meant to a small, plain girl called Jo, who had a hot temper and a burning ambition to be a writer.

In all my work, in the movies I write, the lyrics, the poetry, the prose, the essays, I am saying that we may encounter many defeats – maybe it’s imperative that we encounter the defeats – but we are much stronger than we appear to be and maybe much better than we allow ourselves to be. Human beings are more alike than unalike.

Actions are the seed of fate deeds grow into destiny.

Poetry comes from the highest happiness or the deepest sorrow.

I’ve got my Grammys on top of my piano and I look at them when I play.

If you enjoy living, it is not difficult to keep the sense of wonder.

I just kind of wake up with a new idea and new dreams every day, and I follow that dream, as they say.

If you look deep enough you will see music; the heart of nature being everywhere music.

I learned from the guys before me – Bill Cosby, Eddie Murphy, Chris Rock, Richard Pryor, just to name a few. These are guys that let it all hang out. What they lived is what they took to the stage.

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.

Never lose a holy curiosity.

You can write any time people will leave you alone and not interrupt you. Or, rather, you can if you will be ruthless enough about it. But the best writing is certainly when you are in love.

Success is counted sweetest by those who never succeed.

I don’t know how much longer I’ll be around. I’ll probably be writing when the Lord says, ‚Maya, Maya Angelou, it’s time.‘

All of my writing is God-given.

The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.

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

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?

Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.

The greatest heroes are those who do their duty in the daily grind of domestic affairs whilst the world whirls as a maddening dreidel.

The men I idolized built their bodies and became somebody – like Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger – and I thought, ‚That can be me.‘ So I started working out. The funny thing is I didn’t realize back then that I was having a defining moment.

Changes and progress very rarely are gifts from above. They come out of struggles from below.

I think it is perfectly natural for any artist to admire intensely and love a young man. It is an incident in the life of almost every artist.

I do have motivation. A lot of motivation.

What is past is prologue.

I’m a songwriter. Everything affects me.

I really want a movie made on Sachin Tendulkar’s life. That is something I’m looking forward to. There will be so much emotion to that movie.

There’s no one way to be creative. Any old way will work.

Live out of your imagination, not your history.

There is spontaneity to my work.

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.

If you don’t know where you are going, every road will get you nowhere.

‚The Lion‘ all began with a picture of a faun carrying an umbrella and parcels in a snowy wood. This picture had been in my mind since I was about sixteen. Then one day, when I was about forty, I said to myself, ‚Let’s try to make a story about it.‘

Steven Spielberg was my childhood hero.