Quotes About Inspiration

Poems are always interested in what Ivan Illich called 'shadow work,' not least because that is no small part of their own way of working.

I don't work on poems and essays at once. They walk on different legs, speak with different tongues, draw from different parts of the psyche. Their paces are also different.

Before I write a novel, images float around in my head that work like icons - they are meaningless in themselves, but serve as reminders.

All writers are exiles wherever they live and their work is a lifelong journey towards the lost land.

I don't believe artists should be subjected to experiences that harden the sensibilities; without sensibility no fine work can ever be done.

I find the light and work it, work it, work it.

Music informs my work so intensely. The better actor I become, the better pianist I become, and vice versa.

The money when you're having a hit is great, but money can be taken from you. What can't be taken from you is the talent and the effect your work has.

I thought it would be a great opportunity to work with someone that I really like and really respect as an artist [like Alessandro Michele].

There's a lot of people I'd love to work with at some point, but I think the song has to be the right thing. It has to be the right fit.

I came to America so that I could work with the best and be the best.

I don't like literal spaces, I don't like literal anything. I still like some kind of guess work but some pieces work and they just pop.

As a designer you have to just do whatever you want to do. The second I came to terms with that, it transformed my work.

The worst thing is to be a designer and create work that isn't honest. You have to be honest. Otherwise, you'll always be a reaction to what other people do and you'll always be one step behind.

I am always saying, 'I don't believe in God; I believe in Al Pacino.' And that's true. If I ever get a phone call saying 'Would you like to work with Al Pacino?' I would go crazy.

I think people can learn from my experience - you know, any young people who are under pressure, whether you work on Wall Street or you work in a factory in Alabama, and young journalists.

Be a mere assistant to your unconscious. Do only half the work. The rest will do itself.

What better reward than to see others excited by your work?

I make movies just as painters paint: I work where I can.

Ibsen is at heart an optimist. He could not close his life's work with a note of negation. When We Dead Awaken is a clear, ringing call to the future.

Turn up for work. Discipline allows creative freedom. No discipline equals no freedom.

I don't see myself as some kind of lone figure standing out there and doing my work in solitary splendour, but as part of the human condition and part of the continuum of writers.

When pieces of work speak to us in a way that feels as if they were made just for us, those become our private worlds that we return to.

Seeing David Mackenzie's work in "Starred Up," I thought that was a wonderful film.