J. R. R. Tolkien Quotes

I consider myself first of all an artist. My work is about my creativity - why I create and not for whom.

I shall live badly if I do not write, and I shall write badly if I do not live.

A friend of mine who writes history books said to me that he thought that the two creatures most to be pitied were the spider and the novelist - their lives hanging by a thread spun out of their own guts. But in some ways I think writers of fiction are the creatures most to be envied, because who else besides the spider is allowed to take that fragile thread and weave it into a pattern? What a gift of grace to be able to take the chaos from within and from it to create some semblance of order.

Keep me up till five because all your stars are out, and for no other reason…Oh dare to do it Buddy! Trust your heart. You’re a deserving craftsman. It would never betray you. Good night. I’m feeling very much over-excited now, and a little dramatic, but I think I’d give almost anything on earth to see you writing a something, an anything, a poem, a tree, that was really and truly after your own heart.

When I do music I don't do it with a purpose in mind. I just feel like it's a little bit contrived if you try to do something like that. It's got to come organically.

I'm kind of lucky in the fact that I can take something that's in my head and write it down, or I can listen to a piece of music that somebody else has written and try to tap into what the music's saying and just kind of follow that, you know. I mean, nine times out of 10, I'm just kind of following where the music takes me.

When you find a song that you love, you just have to do it - why would I try to match it? When I wrote more of the songs in the '90s - 'Nick of Time' and other songs I was surprised I came up with - it was because nobody else was saying what I wanted to say.

Artists need to express.

I think the way kids create is so inspiring. They're drawing a picture? They love the picture they drew; they're not tortured about it.

I dream of painting and then I paint my dream.

The only thing in life that really gives me any peace is just being lost in the process of creating something, whether it's the film or painting and drawing, which has been a big part of my life, for a long time.

I like to work on records when I feel inspired, not because it's expected of me.

I want to create. I think that's the one word I can grow on.

I don't want ever to be guilty of what my critics claim: doing formula without original elements.

Make good art.

I have a desire to create more film, more beauty, more art, more love, but I don't feel desperate. It's not about creating or building a career.

I think the idea of art kills creativity.

As a creative person, you want to start with a blank canvas.

I love to be creative.

Don't be an art critic. Paint. There lies salvation.

Works of art make rules; rules do not make works of art.

I believe in creative work.

My whole life, I've always had to be surrounded by creative things. I find it relaxing to be in touch with creations by other people.

It is almost impossible to reconcile self expression with the creative act.

Artists today think of everything they do as a work of art. It is important to forget about what you are doing - then a work of art may happen.