Paul Weller Quotes

We actors are superstitious creatures. We do all the homework, and we put all of the components together, but there's always one key aspect that we're not in charge of, really, and that's magic. You are always on the lookout for where and how that magic is going to ignite.

You write a hit the same way you write a flop.

There's no way to learn how to write a hit song. There's no formula for it. You just have to have it inside of you.

If a piece of genius comes, it comes, and it if doesn't, it doesn't.

I foresee it and yet I hardly ever carry it out as I foresee it. It transforms itself by the actual paint. I don't in fact know very often what the paint will do, and it does many things which are very much better than I could make it do.

U2 is sort of song writing by accident really. We don't really know what we're doing and when we do, it doesn't seem to help.

When a song wants to be written, it will be written.

Every individual decision is nothing but coincidence, every artistic decision is coincidence.

It's difficult because nothing's preordained by plan and you can't control it. That's one of those joys and thrills and nerve-racking realities of being an actor. A lot has to do with luck, no matter what your talent or contribution can be.

In general, I don't know when inspiration will pop up.

When I paint, some things come out, and I don't know. Maybe it's because I have such talent as a painter.

I really wish I knew what I was doing because I'd be writing hit songs every minute.

I think it's important for fans to know that but if I'm doing something that inspires me musically then I think it will inspire someone else too.

Music is funny. I shouldn't even ever talk about music, because you can have all the ideas in your head, and it never goes exactly the way that you think it's gonna go.

Obviously there's so many great artists out there that I'd love to work with.

There was never an 'a-ha' moment when a spider bit me and I knew I could write songs. For that reason, I don't know if I'm always going to be able to. I want to write songs forever, but it's an elusive thing.

That's the great thing about filmmaking: Things happen you don't know are going to happen at the end.

I'm not sure if the next song I write is going to be about love or a song about a tree.

I do more writing by myself than with anybody else. My best thing is sitting...around somewhere with a guitar, and having an idea. You never know where it'd come from. Songwriting is a God-given talent.

The first steps of a creative act are like groping in the dark: random and chaotic, feverish and fearful, a lot of busy-ness with no apparent or definable end in sight.

If I knew where the good songs came from, I’d go there more often. It’s a mysterious condition. It’s much like the life of a Catholic nun. You’re married to a mystery.

Masterpieces are only lucky attempts.

My discussion with Keith Richards about the creative process led me to believe that there's an invisible presence of a stream of ever-flowing creativity that we overhear-all you have to do is pull up the antenna and dial it in. This presence allows you to maintain your sense of origin and move forward.

That's the beauty of song writing. You never know when inspiration will come or how it will hit, you just gotta kinda grasp a hold of it and make sense of it somehow.

Both individual skill (art) and chance are important factors in determining success or failure.