When I have an idea, I turn down the flame, as if it were a little alcohol stove, as low as it will go. Then it explodes and that is my idea.

Because of your smile, you make life more beautiful.

If ever I feel the soul within me elevate and expand to those dimensions not wholly unworthy of its Almighty Architect, it is when I contemplate the cause of my country, deserted by all the world beside, and I standing up boldly and lone and hurling defiance at her victorious oppressors.

‚For Whom the Bell Tolls‘ was a problem which I carried on each day. I knew what was going to happen in principle. But I invented what happened each day I wrote.

A composer is a guy who goes around forcing his will on unsuspecting air molecules, often with the assistance of unsuspecting musicians.

I think sometimes – not always – I write songs that are accessible.

I do not like the man who squanders life for fame; give me the man who living makes a name.

I am a dangerous man when turned loose with a typewriter.

My mother had a saying: ‚Kamala, you may be the first to do many things, but make sure you’re not the last.‘

Whenever I write a novel, music just sort of naturally slips in (much like cats do, I suppose).

Nurture your minds with great thoughts. To believe in the heroic makes heroes.

With Virgin, I’ve just loved creating things. And as a private company, I can get away with moving Virgin from records to airlines to train companies to space companies to whatever, without ever having to worry about analysts knocking the value of my stock.

The only frustrating thing about jail is that I can’t make music.

People always say when they meet me that I’m not what they expect. I assume they think I’m this super dark and depressing guy, but I like to channel all of those emotions into my work.

Music is a moral law. It gives soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination, and charm and gaiety to life and to everything.

I think that’s why I put my energy into making music. That’s how I get my thoughts out, instead of being crazy all the time.

Sometimes I think that there’s a fine line between impressionistic and messy.

No matter what has happened to you in the past or what is going on in your life right now, it has no power to keep you from having an amazingly good future if you will walk by faith in God. God loves you! He wants you to live with victory over sin so you can possess His promises for your life today!

Neil Young is my hero, and such a great example. You know what that guy has been doing for the past 40 years? Making music. That’s what that guy does. Sometimes you pay attention, sometimes you don’t. Sometimes he hands it to you, sometimes he keeps it to himself. He’s a good man with a beautiful family and wonderful life.

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.

When art dresses in worn-out material it is most easily recognized as art.

I know of no single formula for success. But over the years I have observed that some attributes of leadership are universal and are often about finding ways of encouraging people to combine their efforts, their talents, their insights, their enthusiasm and their inspiration to work together.

I feel like I just grabbed a big juicy worm with a right sharp hook in the middle of it.

In all things of nature there is something of the marvelous.

Just as our eyes need light in order to see, our minds need ideas in order to conceive.

I am an artist, and I have the ability and the free will to choose the way the world will envision me.

Writing and cafes are strongly linked in my brain.

Whatever is on the page is what I’m married to. I’m very prepared. I’m a thespian. I don’t like to improv. I don’t like to go off course ‚cause I think that’s where stuff happens. When you stick to the material ‚cause it’s written so well, that’s where the magic happens.

The mediator of the inexpressible is the work of art.

Art is to be free. Design is to fix.

Almost everything that is great has been done by youth.

So that’s the dissenter’s hope: that they are writing not for today but for tomorrow.

Every secret of a writer’s soul, every experience of his life, every quality of his mind is written large in his works.

Hope is not a resting place but a starting point – a cactus, not a cushion.

I never wanted to write the sort of song that said, ‚Look at how abnormal and crazy and out there I am, man!‘

Do creative, social, and civic attitudes change depending on where we live? Yes, I think so.

If I weren’t performing, I’d be a beauty editor or a therapist. I love creativity, but I also love to help others. My mother was a hairstylist, and they listen to everyone’s problems – like a beauty therapist!

It usually helps me write by reading – somehow the reading gear in your head turns the writing gear.

Taking bold action on climate change simply makes good business sense. It’s also the right thing to do for people and the planet. Setting a net-zero GHG emissions target by 2050 will drive innovation, grow jobs, build prosperity, and secure a better world for what will soon be 9 billion people.

I cannot with any real integrity perform songs I’ve done for 25 years. I don’t need the money. What I need is to feel that I am not letting myself down as an artist and that I still have something to contribute.

With ideas it is like with dizzy heights you climb: At first they cause you discomfort and you are anxious to get down, distrustful of your own powers; but soon the remoteness of the turmoil of life and the inspiring influence of the altitude calm your blood; your step gets firm and sure and you begin to look – for dizzier heights.

Hundreds of people who’ve never written before send in ‚Dr. Who‘ scripts. They may have good ideas, but what they fail to realise is that writing for TV is incredibly complicated. They have no idea how difficult it is and what the financial commitment is.

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.

If you are born an artist, you have no choice but to fight to stay an artist.

Every man I meet is in some way my superior.

The world of reality has its limits; the world of imagination is boundless.

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.

Nobody should come to the movies unless he believes in heroes.

Surrealism is destructive, but it destroys only what it considers to be shackles limiting our vision.

Literally wrote ‚Starboy‘ in 30 minutes.

All great deeds and all great thoughts have a ridiculous beginning. Great works are often born on a street corner or in a restaurant’s revolving door.

Everybody thinks making films back to back is a big deal but they did it all the time in the old days.

Sometimes life hits you in the head with a brick. Don’t lose faith.

People have to go through trials and tribulations to get where they at. Do your thing – continue to rock it – because obviously, God wants you here.

God’s Spirit moves through us and the world at a pace that can never be constricted by any one religious paradigm. I love that.

Daring ideas are like chessmen moved forward; they may be beaten, but they may start a winning game.

A woman’s heart must be of such a size and no larger, else it must be pressed small, like Chinese feet; her happiness is to be made as cakes are, by a fixed recipe.

Being an artist doesn’t just mean you have a song. That doesn’t make you an artist. The word ‚artist‘ means so many different things, and I feel like to be a real one, you really have to do it all. The people that I think of as artists – Tyler the Creator, Childish Gambino, Kanye West – are doing the most.

I have the Midas touch, in the way that when I hook up with a project, I feel, not speaking cocky or conceited, but there’s a confidence I have. I learned that from Muhammad Ali; I used to bodyguard him. He taught me about confidence. So when it comes to any job I work, I’m gonna do it good; I’m going to bring it over the top.

Practically everybody in New York has half a mind to write a book, and does.

Why did I write? Because I found life unsatisfactory.