Quotes About Inspiration

I don't sit down to write a song, per se.

When you have one idea per year, it's already a miracle!

I don't have an idol per se.

Britain has always had more art schools per capita than any other country.

I never was a big believer that you can teach writing per se.

Everyone has helped me, but in particular, Scott Parker 100 per cent. What a person to be around: a great player and just a great human being.

I'd say 99 per cent of the time I write on my own, just with my guitar, and then it's trying to figure out what it needs in a production sense.

Why do I write? From selfishness. Because this state of liquefied, complex concentration, however faintly and dimly I'm able to perceive it, is the greatest pleasure I know.

It is the function of creative man to perceive and to connect the seemingly unconnected.

I'm very inspired by other cultures and very often use what I perceive to be exotic ingredients.

Everything I do is collaborative. It's just my way. I'm really very interested in how the other musicians perceive the song.

What comes to me always is a character, a scene, a moment. That's going to be the beginning. Then, as I write, I begin to perceive an ending. I begin to see a destination, although sometimes that changes. And then, of course, there's the whole middle section looming.

No artist wants to be perceived as a regurgitator.

I'm perceived as someone who goes out and searches for new music, but it was all present in my household.

I just try and decide what I'm interested in and what excites me. I don't worry about how it's going to be perceived.

Writing is very much perceived as something distinct from performance. I don't see it like that.

Ninety percent of leadership is the ability to communicate something people want.

I love art so much because of curiosity. At the start of a painting, I know 10 percent of what the painting will be, and then I have to improvise the whole thing.

The outline is 95 percent of the book. Then I sit down and write, and that's the easy part.

When I read a character that I really, really love, I know immediately what they look like. It's like I want to 100 percent become that person.

I think that when NASA works on a moon shot, they know too well that all of the people working on it must do their job at 110 percent. Sometimes they probably put in 18 hour days, but they're aiming for the moon, and that's what counts.

I believe 100 percent in the power and importance of music.

I'm not thinking when I'm writing, 'How's this going to read?' Or, 'What percentage of the audience is going to stay with me?' The thing itself is what gives me pleasure. Sometimes stuff just falls onto the page so beautifully and happily that it's deeply satisfying. It's selfish!

There's always going to be a percentage of the kids out there who want to hear people who can actually play and sing.