Quotes About Inspiration

I want to put out a few books throughout my lifetime.

Personally, I've got too many ideas to use in my lifetime, probably. But that's a nice problem to have, I think.

I didn't grow up admiring anybody but George Gervin, and I didn't get a chance to play against him. That would've been one of my lifetime accomplishments. I probably would've went crazy if I played against him, because he's like a father to me now.

It would take me 10 lifetimes to achieve even half of what Wilberforce achieved.

I want to make music to lift the people.

Your soul either feels lifted by something that you read, or it feels squashed by it.

There's nothing better than lifting somebody's spirit with music.

Music has a way of getting inside all of us and lifting us up.

It's always interesting when you're doing things yourself - getting the lighting, getting everybody together. It's exciting.

I don't use the word 'artists' lightly.

Any time you can have an impact on anybody's life in a positive direction, to bring happiness to the community or a certain group of people, you don't take that lightly as a team, as a player.

Nothing lights a fire under you like somebody saying, 'You're not going to be able to do it.'

I'm not a huge award type person, that's not really what lights my fire.

I want to be the physical embodiment of light, you know? And I feel like now people know, when they see the lights go off and this light-up figure appear on stage, they know that's Mustafa Ali.

That connectivity with the audience that I get to enjoy, that's my church. It's not one of ego or anything like, 'I'm on the stage and the lights.' It's just this connectivity, and it's always been that way for me.

There are a lot of people I would have liked to have collaborated with, and would still like to.

I've always liked to draw.

I think it was the fact that I liked it so much that made the writing just come out of me automatically.

Little Walter I would've liked to have played with.

All I write about is what's happened to me and to people I know, and the better I know them, the more likely they are to be written about.

Every artist in the world likes his or her work to make people think.

I like coming up with new characters. Whether it's revamping an old character no one likes or just coming up with brand-new stuff, that's kind of what excited me as an artist.

If I think of a reader while I am writing, the only reader who really matters for me is my wife. It's most important to me that she likes what I write.

I always do that for all of my characters. I built a music playlist for her... with songs she really likes.