Martin Luther King Jr. Quotes

I feel fiery in my life. I feel fiery in my art.

Rage is to writers what water is to fish.

When I am angry I can write, pray, and preach well, for then my whole temperament is quickened, my understanding sharpened, and all mundane vexations and temptations depart.

Write while the heat is in you.

I can be most colorful and inventive when I am angry.

If you love something - and there are things that I love - you do want more and more and more of it, but that's not the way to produce good work.

Enthusiasm is that secret and harmonious spirit which hovers over the production of genius.

When things are going well, I can't write fast enough to keep up with my mind. Writing walks, speech runs and talk flies. Other times, though, it's like fishing.

Inspiration is some mysterious blessing which happens when the wheels are turning smoothly.

A lot of artists think they want anger. But a real, strong, bitter anger occupies the mind, leaving no room for creativity.

The anger and the creativity are so closely intertwined with me, and there's plenty of anger left.

I definitely think the best songs are written when you feel something strongly.

I never feel so alive as when I'm writing and the work is going well.

...I feel more alive when I'm writing than I do at any other time--except when I'm making love. Two things when you forget time, when nothing exists except the moment--the moment of writing, the moment of love. That perfect concentration is bliss.

Inspiration is that state in which mind and heart are connected.

Where the heart is the mind works best.

Some people say talent is energy and that's a very interesting way of thinking about it. In other words, people with talent have a lot of energy.

Love is the only energy I’ve ever used as a writer. I’ve never written out of anger, although anger has informed love.

What I say to an artist is, 'When you can't paint - paint.

A work-in-progress generates its own energy field. You, the artist or entrepreneur, are pouring love into the work; you are suffusing it with passion and intention and hope.

Panic is an incredibly catalyzing creative force. And almost out of sheer necessity, I found I had to talk about myself and my real life as it is effectively lived by me.

I've found, in my own writing, that a little hatred, keenly directed, is a useful thing.

I'm 44 now; I feel better than I did when I was 34. I've got more clarity now. I wake up in the morning, and I write my blog, and then I go upstairs, and I work on music. And I do that every day. That's what I do. I don't check in once a week and think, "Oh, I've gotta come up with something now." I'm always writing. I was just in a coffee shop in Chelsea last night, just killing time, waiting for a friend, and I sat and wrote enough for three good songs. I love it. This is my life. It's all I do.

If life ever stops inspiring us to write, it's time to stop doing what we do.