You're ready. Start making stuff.

The only way to find your voice is to use it. It’s hardwired, built into you. Talk about the things you love. Your voice will follow.

It’s one of my theories that when people give you advice, they’re really just talking to themselves in the past.

Usually, when we talk about creativity, it's about self-expression, which is great, but for work to be art or design, there has to be someone on the other end. The audience makes the work come alive.

Don't wait until you know who you are to get started.

Be curious about the world in which you live. Look things up. Chase down every reference. Go deeper than anybody else--that's how you'll get ahead.

You can’t be content with mastery; you have to push yourself to become a student again.

You’re only going to be as good as the stuff you surround yourself with.

The thing is: It takes a lot of energy to be creative. You don't have that energy if you waste it on other stuff.

Don't worry about doing research. Just search.

You can't find your voice if you don't use it.

As a recluse I couldn't bear traffic. It had nothing to do with jealousy, I simply disliked people, crowds, anywhere, except at my readings. People diminished me, they sucked me dry.

You don't throw a compass overboard because the ocean is calm.

I'm attracted to difficulty, I think. I'm attracted to guys who have truckloads of baggage. With them, it will never, ever be simple. And then they do or say one little magical thing and they own me.

I'll never forget Hurricane Katrina - the mix of a natural and a man-made catastrophe that resulted in the death of over 1, 500 of our neighbors. Millions of folks were marked by the tragedy.

I watch a lot of cartoons. I watch a lot of "SpongeBob SquarePants" and "Phineas and Ferb."

I build only living stones--men.

The best characters to play are the ones who have deep internal conflict.

I don't believe it mattered to Timothy McVeigh who was president or who his congressional representative was when he blew up the Murrah Building in 1995.

One of the first things we did was to find role models or mentors at companies that had achieved what we wanted to do. We bribed them or annoyed them for long enough until they decided to mentor us.

Honest pioneer work in the field of science has always been, and will continue to be, life's pilot. On all sides, life is surrounded by hostility. This puts us under an obligation.