Writing is such a strange, utterly mysterious process. First, there was nothing; then, suddenly, there was something. I don’t know where thoughts are born. Where the hell does it come from? I don’t know. I really don’t know.

Fiction is such a world of freedom, it’s wonderful. If you want someone to fly, they can fly.

I don’t care if people think I am an overactor, as long as they enjoy what I do. People who think that would call Van Gogh an overpainter.

Sometimes I get the start of a story from a memory, an anecdote, but that gets lost and is usually unrecognizable in the final story.

Sometimes I’ll jot a clever turn of phrase down. Sometimes I’ll just remember it.

It’s insane that, since the Beatles and Dylan, it’s assumed that all musicians should do everything themselves. It’s that ridiculous, teenage idea that when Mick Jagger sings, he’s telling you something about his own life. It’s so arrogant to think that people would want to know about it anyway!

I think, generally, I just cannot really envision life without writing and producing records and singing.

It is the set of the sails, not the direction of the wind that determines which way we will go.

Like anything else that happens on its own, the act of writing is beyond currency. Money is great stuff to have, but when it comes to the act of creation, the best thing is not to think of money too much. It constipates the whole process.

Man’s only true happiness is to live in hope of something to be won by him. Reverence something to be worshipped by him, and love something to be cherished by him, forever.

A man without a goal is like a ship without a rudder.

A small body of determined spirits fired by an unquenchable faith in their mission can alter the course of history.

The ‚Maddox Jolie-Pitt‘ Foundation’s work is inspired by our children and their connections to particular countries.

Exploration by real people inspires us.

Desperation is sometimes as powerful an inspirer as genius.

I really, truly believe that writing comes out of the body; of course, the mind is working as well, but it’s a double thing and that doubleness is united. I mean, you can’t separate persona from psyche; you just can’t do it.

I don’t know how to function without music. When I’m not making it, I’m listening to it. It gives me courage and takes care of my mind.

The minute you got the Nobel Peace Prize, things that I said yesterday, with nobody paying too much attention, I say the same things after I got it – oh! It was quite crucial for people, and it helped our morale because apartheid did look invincible.

A record deal doesn’t make you an artist; you make yourself an artist.

The whole ‚enigmatic artist‘ thing, I just ran with it.

Hide not your talents. They for use were made. What’s a sundial in the shade?

Listen; there’s a hell of a good universe next door: let’s go.

I know the blessing of having a dad who played 16 years in the league. That experience, and seeing him as an example, let me know that it’s possible. It’s not easy, but it’s possible.

I used to – my earliest memory of waking up with a melody in my head was, you know, 8, 9, 10. I’ve always heard kind of melodies in my head.

One of my big goals as a human being is to continue to write what’s really happening to me, even if it’s a tough pill to swallow for people around me… I do fear that if I ever were to have someone in my life who mattered, I would second-guess every one of my lyrics.

The last people with any ideas are young people.

One element of Madonna’s career that really takes center stage is how many times she’s reinvented herself. It’s easier to stay in one look, one comfort zone, one musical style. It’s inspiring to see someone whose only predictable quality is being unpredictable.

Art is never finished, only abandoned.

My aim is to put down on paper what I see and what I feel in the best and simplest way.

Without art, the crudeness of reality would make the world unbearable.

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

Blessed is the influence of one true, loving human soul on another.

I don’t think there’s such a thing as autobiographical fiction. If I say it happened, it happened, even if only in my mind.

An idea that is not dangerous is not worthy of being called an idea at all.

I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat.

A common mistake that people make when trying to design something completely foolproof is to underestimate the ingenuity of complete fools.

Tones sound, and roar and storm about me until I have set them down in notes.

Whenever death may surprise us, let it be welcome if our battle cry has reached even one receptive ear and another hand reaches out to take up our arms.

I think my first album opened a lot of doors for me to push the freedom of speech to the limit.

Music is not math. It’s science. You keep mixing the stuff up until it blows up on you, or it becomes this incredible potion.

I don’t think human beings learn anything without desperation. Desperation is a necessary ingredient to learning anything or creating anything. Period. If you ain’t desperate at some point, you ain’t interesting.

Every movie I make teaches me something. That’s why I keep making them.

From a young age, I learned to focus on the things I was good at and delegate to others what I was not good at. That’s how Virgin is run. Fantastic people throughout the Virgin Group run our businesses, allowing me to think creatively and strategically.

Genius… means little more than the faculty of perceiving in an unhabitual way.

I have no models in Japanese literature. I created my own style, my own way.

The great fun in my life has been getting up every morning and rushing to the typewriter because some new idea has hit me.

I always like to create things that get attention. It used to be a problem when I wasn’t famous. Now, I can do whatever I want and people have to accept it.

As a novelist, you could say that I am dreaming while I am awake, and every day I can continue with yesterday’s dream. Because it is a dream, there are so many contradictions and I have to adjust them to make the story work. But, in principle, the original dream does not change.

Well, Art is Art, isn’t it? Still, on the other hand, water is water. And east is east and west is west and if you take cranberries and stew them like applesauce they taste much more like prunes than rhubarb does. Now you tell me what you know.

Whenever I make music, it reflects where I’m at mentally.

We must act out passion before we can feel it.

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.

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

I always seem to get inspiration and renewed vitality by contact with this great novel land of yours which sticks up out of the Atlantic.

Great dreams of great dreamers are always transcended.

All intelligent thoughts have already been thought; what is necessary is only to try to think them again.

I would get out of school and go straight to my computer to create beats.

Bill Gates has always been a mentor and inspiration for me even before I knew him. Just growing up, I admired how Microsoft was mission-focused.

Wherever you write is supposed to be a little bit of a refuge, a place where you can get away from the world. The more closed in you are, the more you’re forced back on your own imagination.

I don’t think that you can be prescriptive about anything, I mean, life is too complicated. Maybe there are novels where the author has not in the least thought about it in terms of film, which can be turned into good films.

True art is characterized by an irresistible urge in the creative artist.