Martin Buber Quotes

Art is not delivered like the morning paper; it has to be stolen from Mount Olympus.

The only thing one can give an artist is leisure in which to work. To give an artist leisure is actually to take part in his creation.

No one can quite say what the creative process is. Because I have nothing to do with it of course. It's created in space. It's God's work, not mine.

The most potent and sacred command which can be laid upon any artist is the command: wait.

To create something new is both thrilling and excruciating at the same time. It's great to have all these choices in front of you, and to have the writers in the room so you know exactly what they meant. But the downside is you want so badly not to screw it up!

That's what's great about the arts. Everything inspires you, and you get a chance to grow from watching other people and how they do their work.

We work hard when we're in the studio, but then when we take our breaks, we walk outside and look around.

God creates, I do not create. I assemble and I steal everywhere to do it - from what I see, from what the dancers can do, from what others do.

For a sculptor, a painter, a weaver, a potter, the dialogue between one's materials and what one makes from them is easy to see: discover a new material or a new way to use a familiar one, and new things can be made, sometimes leading to the discovery of more new material, leading to more creation.

I'm so hard on myself that when I'm in the studio, I'll write 10 songs and only use one. So those nine songs that are left over, I always think, 'Where could these go? Who could they be for?'

If you want creative workers, give them enough time to play.

I begin with an idea and then it becomes something else.

I don't know where my songs come from... If I knew, I'd know too much, more than we are allowed on this plane.

There's an element to songwriting that I can't explain, that comes from somewhere else. I can't explain that dividing line between nothing and something that happens within a song, where you have absolutely nothing, and then suddenly you have something. It's like the origin of the universe.

You can't sit down and write 300 compositions in a three-month period and think that you're doing it all by yourself. Obviously, there's something going on here. And whether you want to call it channeling or being connected to a creative force or knowing your history and knowing where you belong, that's, you know, maybe a personal thing.

You can only generate ideas when you put pencil to paper, brush to canvas... when you actually do something physical.

That's how I make work. Along the way, I take notes, I read about history and popular culture. Sometimes I act out things in the studio. I go back to my mother's hair salon so I can hear three voices going all at once. I pull inspiration from everything.

I believe everything creative is somewhat collaborative.

A good director makes a playground and allows you to play.

Being in a studio is quite a creative and energetic process.

Listening to songs is like eating and writing songs is like vomiting. You're putting a ton of stuff in, it combines in unpredictable ways, and comes back out in a big mess.

People have talents that are different. Where does the creative flow come from - inside us or from a higher power? I don't ask any questions. I just write it down.

Things don't happen in a vacuum, and artists don't make work in a vacuum.

As in a love affair, two creative people can destroy themselves trying to recapture that youthful spirit, at twenty-one or twenty-four, of creating without even being aware of how it's happening

Pictures must be miraculous: the instant one is completed, the intimacy between the creation and the creator is ended.