Invention requires an excited mind; execution, a calm one.

Wearing spectacles makes men conceited, because spectacles raise them to a degree of sensual perfection which is far above the power of their own nature.

A man of talent is not born to be left to himself, but to devote himself to art and good masters who will make something of him.

Some people just love to stir the pot, but don't realize they're cooking themselves.

Writing is easy, its marketing that is truly hell!

As writers, the world is not about individual expression entirely because we are producing works of literature and getting them out into the world.

Yet beauty, though injurious, hath strange power, After offence returning, to regain Love once possess'd.

Of all parts of wisdom, the practice is the best. Socrates was esteemed the wisest man of his time because he turned his acquired knowledge into morality, and aimed at goodness more than greatness.

You're leaving me, Rainbow Girl.

Morality without a sense of paradox is mean.

Kill every male among the little ones, and kill every woman who has known man by lying with him. But all the young girls who have not known man ... , keep alive for yourselves.

Creativity is dangerous. We cannot open ourselves to new insights without endangering the security of our prior assumptions. We cannot propose new ideas without risking disapproval and rejection.

I would bring Patti [Smith ] in to the editing room [working on the Dream of Life] and say, "This is a great moment for a voiceover, or a poem," and then we'd bring in some sound design.