Erik Larson Quotes

True art is characterized by an irresistible urge in the creative artist.

I felt impelled to write. It felt demonic, and I wanted to improve, the way some people habitually pick up a guitar and get better at playing it and making up songs.

If you cut a painter's hands off, he'd still feel the urge to pick up a brush.

With me poetry has not been a purpose, but a passion.

It is essential that the revelation we receive, the conception of an image which embraces a certain thing, which has no sense in itself, which has no subject, which means 'absolutely nothing' from the logical point of view.. ..should speak so strongly in us, evoke such agony or joy, that we feel compelled to paint.

Actually, when I write, there is a feeling of necessity, of something that is stronger than myself that demands that I must write as I write.

Motivation is when you get hold of an idea and don't let go of it until you make it a reality. Inspiration is the reverse - when an idea gets hold of you and you feel compelled to let that impulse or energy carry you along. You get to a point where you realize that you're no longer in charge, that there's a driving force inside you that can't be stopped.

I don't know why I write. If I knew the answer, I probably wouldn't have to. But it is a compulsion. You don't choose it, it chooses you. And I wouldn't recommend it to anybody.

Art is a self-replicating force.

Art is a kind of innate drive that seizes a human being and makes him its instrument.

He who cannot hate the devil cannot love God.

The writer who possesses the creative gift owns something of which he is not always master - something that, at times, strangely wills and works for itself.

I believe that there's a force of life in the universe, and that when we're writing or making music or painting, we're likely to connect with that flow.

...insight, vision, moments of revelation. During those rare moments something overtakes the man and he becomes the tool of a greater Force; the servant of, willing or unwilling depending on his degree of awakeness. The photograph, then, is a message more than a mirror, and the mans a messenger who happens to be a photographer.

A Devil, a born Devil on whose nature, nurture can never stick, on whom my pain, humanly taken, all lost, quite lost.

Sin is the Monster we love to deny. It is crouching at the door and it wants you, but you must overcome it.

Once, poets were magicians. Poets were strong, stronger than warriors or kings — stronger than old hapless gods. And they will be strong once again.

I don't choose what I compose. It chooses me.

Painting is stronger than me, it makes me do it's bidding.

Feeling and longing are the motive forces behind all human endeavor and human creations.

Watch for the devil. When there’s a god, there’s always a legion of devils.

All authentic art is conceived at a sacred moment and nourished in a blessed hour; an inner impulse creates it, often without the artist being aware of it.

To me, creativity is God. But it will be better if you allow me to change the word god into godliness, because I don't want to be misunderstood. There is no person like God, but there is tremendous energy - exploding, unending, expanding. This expanding, unending, exploding energy, this creativity, is divine.

... Too often we fail to recognize and pay tribute to the creative spirit. It is that spirit that creates our jobs.

Sex energy is the creative energy of all geniuses. There never has been, and never will be a great leader, builder or artist lacking in the driving force of sex.