Ellsworth Kelly Quotes

My insights come in periods of working. There are wonderful moments of surprise, but I'm superstitious enough not to want to talk about them.

I do not 'get' ideas; ideas get me.

You don't actually have ideas; ideas have you.

You can't rush inspiration.

Whenever I finish a movie, I usually go through a period where I think I'll never have another idea. And then, somehow, you get another idea.

Inspiration arrives as a packet of material to be delivered.

I keep drawing inspiration from people every day. All of a sudden, something strikes me so hard and dramatically, and then a dream comes - I sit down, cut it off and make a script out of it.

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

You never know when your ideas are going to come back to you.

Inspiration doesn't really work like that - you're not looking out for it. Inspiration is something that tends to capture you rather than you capture it.

Typically my ideas come to me in the most inane ways possible. I had the initial idea for 'Quantum Conundrum' while I was walking down the street to get breakfast. People are like, 'Whoa, what's your inspiration, is it something amazing?' No, I was just really hungry.

I don't know how to explain it, but when you're working on something constantly, and you're digging in deep, things kind of fall in, and you grab them, and you're like, 'That one!' and 'That thing!' and it starts to build something right.

You never know where inspiration is going to come from.

The truth is, it is hard to know where ideas come from.

Not all ideas are like a twinkling star in the sky, and you get inspired to make a record the next day.

Sometimes I think creativity is magic; it's not a matter of finding an idea, but allowing the idea to find you.

The toughest question has always been, "How do you get your ideas?" How do you answer that? It's like asking runners how they run, or singers how they sing. They just do it!

A hunch is creativity trying to tell you something.

I think good artists know when they're on a roll, and they recognize when lightning is striking. It's a very fortunate thing to have that inspiration and not to overanalyze it or mess with it; you just follow it if you love what you do.

Of course creativity is a mystery. We don't know what drives it or what constitutes it. It's one of those things, like genius, you know it when you see it but it's impossible to define.

The creative process is mysterious; a conversation, a ride in the car, or a melody can trigger something.

I get inspired at different times and in different ways.

Imagination is the air of mind.

I don't go in search of ideas; I try to let them find me.