Michael Tilson Thomas Quotes

I just have a gut feeling about something, if I really want to do it, if I'm excited about it, if I want to explore it. And that goes across all different sorts of genres.

I stay away from the writing part because I think that if it sticks, it sticks. You just know it. The stuff that doesn't stick, goes away. The stuff that propels you forward, you can see it in your partner's eyes.

I don't do a lot of research, exactly, but I'm constantly wandering through the world finding things incredible and remembering them.

Of course, there will always be those who look only at technique, who ask 'how', while others of a more curious nature will ask 'why'. Personally, I have always preferred inspiration to information.

When you do not know what you are doing and what you are doing is the best - that is inspiration.

No one knows exactly where thought comes from, but it can be said that thought comes from the same place as whatever it is that beats our heart... it comes from being alive.

I'm nosey, and I have a great imagination. So it's not necessarily things I have to go through, but it's things people I know or my family is going through, and I hear about it, and I think, 'That sounds like a great song.'

It's not that complicated. If you hear something and it makes you want to hear it again, that's the ticket. You have to be lucky enough to find geniuses, welcome them and get out of their way.

All I know is that I am constantly intrigued by something I'm doing.

I believe that education is all about being excited about something. Seeing passion and enthusiasm helps push an educational message.

I just know when I read something if it's something that I want to do.

I usually work in a direction until I know how to do it, then I stop. At the time that I am bored or understand - I use those words interchangeably - another appetite has formed. A lot of people try to think up ideas. I'm not one. I'd rather accept the irresistible possibilities of what I can't ignore.

I think the secret to what Jim Henson did, ultimately, is that he understood how to cut through to the... I know this sounds corny... but the child inside of you.

You can be taught so much, but the sense of anticipation cannot be taught.

There's no formula for choosing songs. I've beeen lucky over the years. You just hear it and you do it.

I get inspiration from a lot of things around me - nature, hills, people, and even insects.

There's no way of telling why you want to do things beforehand. Something just grabs you. It might not grab you six months later, and it might not have grabbed you six months before, but at that particular moment it grabs you, so you jump on it.

I believe in intuition and inspiration...at times I feel certain I am right while not knowing the reason.

It can't be bought. It can't be taught. It must be caught.

I am often asked why I write, and I don't know really--I just want to.

I feel it right down in my stomach when I'm in touch with something. I don't know what it is.

Inspiration will always sing; inspiration will never explain.

Leaders, if you allow wonder to shut down in you, you will shut it down in everyone around you.

People inspire me. Curiosity inspires me. Mystery inspires me.

I don't think I”m a very good actor. Everything is very tentative and at a certain point you click in and just feel the spirit move you. I can be possessed really well.