Tracy Chapman Quotes

I have my permanent muses and my muses of the moment.

My writing is inspired by just about everything, yet I am unaware of so much of the process.

Most of the time one is discouraged by the work, but now and again by some grace something stands out and invites you to work on it, to elaborate it or animate it in some way. It's a mysterious process.

I know how demanding the process of creation is.

Whatever it is that I thirst for in my current project tends to turn up in my following project.

Everybody knows that I don't have a muse. I'm not interested in that.

Music is the doorway that has led me to drawing, photography, and writing.

The great composer does not set to work because he is inspired, but becomes inspired because he is working.

People often ask writers where they get their inspiration, and for me, the short answer is that I haven't a clue; I'm just grateful that I get them.

A collection is not just one basic idea. It comes from something that is in the air, something you suddenly like and put down on paper and then work out.

My sole inspiration is a telephone call from a director.

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

I create work, and I devote myself to the creative process, and I try to, you know, stay pure in that process and be worthy of the messages that I receive.

I believe sometimes we aren't always in charge of everything that we do creatively. We submit to things as we're going on our own journey.

Sometimes I'm more inspired by stuff that tells a story and less inspired by stuff that's not a natural extension of what I'm already doing.

It's weird: I don't really know where I pull my inspiration from. I think it's N.E.R.D.

Even if you're not releasing songs, the act of creativity is important. That's the part I love, when you're in the moment. The rest of it I'm not particularly interested in at all.

Inspiration more often comes during the work than before it, because the largest part of the job of an artist is to listen to the work.

I really admire songwriters or any kind of writer, painter or artist that says, "I'm going to get up at 8 o'clock in the morning and spend this time to this time creating." I do that sometimes, but the songs I like the best come as gifts from somewhere. It's almost like you didn't do anything, like you can't take credit for it because you sat down and the melody and words came out.

Very often the music comes first.

I do sculpting sometimes when I have the time, and the first thing I sculpted was a bust of [Albert] Einstein. It still sits on my table and still inspires me. He was a person who triggered my imagination and my ideas.

It is very bad for (an artist) to talk about how he (creates). It is not the (artist's) province to explain or to run guided tours through the more difficult country of his work. It's none of their business that you had to learn. Let them think you were born that way.

Inspiration does not always precede the act of writing; it often follows it.

I only write when listening to the music.

I write based on powerful inner impulses, and those seem to shift over time.