I have drawn inspiration from the Marine Corps, the Jewish struggle in Palestine and Israel, and the Irish.

Often we have no time for our friends but all the time in the world for our enemies.

I enjoy writing, sometimes; I think that most writers will tell you about the agony of writing more than the joy of writing, but writing is what I was meant to do.

I essentially write for myself.

It is extremely important to know what you don't want to find.

Writing, basically breaks down to relationships between people and that is what you write about.

Usually a good part of the people trying it end up not making it.

I have been writing for 50 years and readers still read my first book from when I was in the Marine Corps.

I was a terrible English student.

I am very proud of this work because it is more about the meaning of the Easter Rising and its relationship to what this whole century has been about, people liberating themselves, freeing themselves.

I have drawn inspiration from the Marine Corps, the Jewish struggle in Palestine and Israel, and the Irish.

I do not write for an audience.

So writing is a very, very difficult position to obtain... and retain.

I was too heavy to be a jockey and too honest to be a producer, so I became a writer.

Research to me is as important or more important than the writing. It is the foundation upon which the book is built.

You can try to reach an audience, but you just write what comes out of you and you just hope that it is accepted. You do not write specifically to a generation.

My first book was rejected nine times. It turned out to be a best seller, Battle Cry? in 1953.

English of course is your major tool, but it is not nearly so important as other aspects of writing for example you have to have some natural ability you can't buy it no one puts it there you're born with it.

The ability of a person to atone has always been the most remarkable of human features.

I was tough. I used everything to my advantage. I could be very ruthless.

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.

I'd seen the current stage production and the 1975 production of Chicago. I liked them both very much, but I didn't use them necessarily as inspiration.

All characters come from people I know, but after the initial inspiration, I tend to modify the characters so they fit with the story.

Accordingly the Northern races of Europe found their inspiration in the Bible; and the enthusiasm for it has not yet quite faded away.

Risk is essential. There is not growth of inspiration in staying within what is safe and comfortable. Once you find out what you do best, why not try something else?

Where does a man get inspiration to write a song like that? Well, he gets it from the landlady once a month.

I believe we need to attract a new generation of the best and brightest to public service and I believe that government can be a source of inspiration, not degradation.

Without craftsmanship, inspiration is a mere reed shaken in the wind.

For me, songwriting is something I have to do ritually. I don't just wait for inspiration; I try to write a little bit every day.

Getting comments like that from even the young people at the shows who probably aren't singers, the girls who just tell me that I'm an inspiration to them, for one reason or another.

When inspiration does not come, I go for a walk, go to the movie, talk to a friend, let go... The muse is bound to return again, especially if I turn my back!

This was all the inspiration it took: We put 100 percent of ourselves in the lines. We personally take care of everything, from fulfillment to answering the mail.