You can't wait for inspiration. You have to go after it with a club.

One cannot violate the promptings of one's nature without having that nature recoil upon itself.

Darn the wheel of the world! Why must it continually turn over? Where is the reverse gear?

The proper function of man is to live, not to exist. I shall not waste my days in trying to prolong them. I shall use my time.

I write for no other purpose than to add to the beauty that now belongs to me. I write a book for no other reason than to add three or four hundred acres to my magnificent estate.

Life is not a matter of holding good cards, but sometimes, playing a poor hand well.

The scab is a traitor to his God, his mother, and his class.

I would rather be a superb meteor, every atom of me in magnificent glow, than a sleepy and permanent planet.

There is an ecstasy that marks the summit of life, and beyond which life cannot rise. And such is the paradox of living, this ecstasy comes when one is most alive, and it comes as a complete forgetfulness that one is alive.

San Francisco is gone. Nothing remains of it but memories.

I would rather be ashes than dust! I would rather be a superb meteor, every atom of me in magnificent glow, than a sleepy and permanent planet.

Affluence means influence.

If cash comes with fame, come fame; if cash comes without fame, come cash.

A bone to the dog is not charity. Charity is the bone shared with the dog, when you are just as hungry as the dog.

You can't wait for inspiration. You have to go after it with a club.

Do you know the only value life has is what life puts on itself?

Life is so short. I would rather sing one song than interpret the thousand.

Life is not always a matter of holding good cards, but sometimes, playing a poor hand well.

As one grows weaker one is less susceptible to suffering. There is less hurt because there is less to hurt.

The proper function of man is to live not to exist. I shall not waste my days in trying to prolong them.

If cash comes with fame come fame if cash comes without fame come cash.

A bone to the dog is not charity. Charity is the bone shared with the dog when you are just as hungry as the dog.

There is an ecstasy that marks the summit of life and beyond which life cannot rise. And such is the paradox of living this ecstasy comes when one is most alive and it comes as a complete forgetfulness that one is alive.

You cant wait for inspiration. You have to go after it with a club.

He was a silent fury who no torment could tame.

Limited minds can recognize limitations only in others.

Mercy did not exist in the primordial life. It was misunderstood for fear, and such misunderstandings made for death.

Love, genuine passionate love, was his for the first time.

In a saturated population life is always cheap.

Show me a man with a tattoo and I'll show you a man with an interesting past.

Life achieves its summit when it does to the uttermost that which it was equipped to do.

Times have changed since George Herbert... but the principle and spirit in which he ministered as a priest remains an inspiration and model for all priests.

Don't make music for some vast, unseen audience or market or ratings share or even for something as tangible as money. Though it's crucial to make a living, that shouldn't be your inspiration. Do it for yourself.

Yes, and I can sit down on a white piece of paper and work because I don't believe too much into inspiration, only I'm waiting for inspiration, work and then inspiration may come. It's a little too easy to say that.

Nature is my manifestation of God. I go to nature every day for inspiration in the day's work. I follow in building the principles which nature has used in its domain.

If the script is telling the story well, that is your inspiration, and you do not need to go somewhere else.

You know, sometimes I get moments of inspiration when I'm writing something and then the task seems so daunting that it just kind of scares me away.

Better beware of notions like genius and inspiration; they are a sort of magic wand and should be used sparingly by anybody who wants to see things clearly.

The person who tries to live alone will not succeed as a human being. His heart withers if it does not answer another heart. His mind shrinks away if he hears only the echoes of his own thoughts and finds no other inspiration.

The prophets, who were very many, proclaim and declare the one God; for, being filled with the inspiration of the one God, they predicted things to come, with agreeing and harmonious voice.

One of the things I try to be very careful of is not taking a movie when I know I have no inspiration left.

The men who have furnished me with my greatest inspiration have not been men of wealth, but men of deeds.

Because I don't play guitar any more, African harmonies and rhythms have been an inspiration to me. I love the raw origin of the sound. It complements my voice and words naturally.

Inspiration doesn't really work like that - you're not looking out for it. Inspiration is something that tends to capture you rather than you capture it.

Any composer who is gloriously conscious that he is a composer must believe that he receives his inspiration from a source higher than himself.

I don't really care who gets their inspiration from where, it's the end results that count.

Inspiration in Science may have to do with ideas, but not in Art. In art it is in the senses that are instinctively responsive to the medium of expression.

When you do not know what you are doing and what you are doing is the best - that is inspiration.

Part of Michael's uniqueness, I think, comes from the fact that he worked with music. He had a tape which he gave me with many different compositions, really eclectic. These pieces of music were sources of inspiration.