Alice Walker Quotes

The songs come along at their own pace when they are ready.

Sometimes I decide I don't want to write because it isn't the thing for me to be doing right then, and I go do something else.

My mum told me to have patience. It's about realising that when things aren't going the way you want them to, or you don't have inspiration, it will come.

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.

I just wait for something to present itself, and then I consider it.

There will be no new music until it's good enough and until I'm ready.

I've never sat down and tried to write something for some occasion. You just write the tune and stay totally wide open to everything. It'll find the person or persons who are supposed to do it.

I really like to experiment. That's the only way I can work. It's instinctive.

The artist discards all theories, both his own and those of others. He forgets everything when he is in front of his canvas.

And I don't have any specific steps to take because I don't start the same way every time. But there is a knowing when it's enough and you can leave it alone.

I got a lot of problems, but I'm really good at intuiting what I need to do to be happy with whatever I create. I know when to stop myself, I know when to start, I know when to leave something alone. I guess I just kind of indulge that completely, and so I just take my time.

My act is sort of improvisational. I have a skeleton in my head, but no fat or skin on it.

I really don't work to a plan, but I just do what interests me and what I like to do.

You can't rush inspiration.

Now to consult the rules of composition before making a picture is a little like consulting the law of gravitation before going for a walk. Such rules and laws are deduced from the accomplished fact; they are the products of reflection.

I've never been one of those guys who storyboards every frame, because that would take away some of the mystery and some of the fun.

Sometimes with Polaroids, the shot you want to get in your head doesn't happen. What it makes me do is be patient, I guess, or let go of that presumption of what the shot's going to be.

I see procrastination and research as part of my artistic process.

The music, for me, doesn't come on a schedule. I don't know when it's going to come, and when it does, I want it out.

I don't even think about maintaining a relevance. I just think about what do I want to paint, what am I gonna do now, what am I gonna do later.

I don't make judgments about my own work, and I don't analyze it; I just let it happen. That applies to everything I've done.

I never map things out in advance. It would be better if I did and more economical in terms of time, but I've found that if you work out a plot line from beginning to end, at the beginning it becomes very rational.

Whether it's a poem I'm working on or a picture I've snapped, it all has to do with the curiosity I feel without thinking about it.

I don't think we ever really think about it when we're doing it, because if you sort of go in with a plan of attack, it tends to take away the natural rhythm of songwriting.

I created 'You Can't Stop Me' without trying. There was nothing premeditated about that record.