Paulo Coelho Quotes

Words, yes, formulating things, creating something from your heart, it is something very necessary, yes.

I thought, 'There are a lot of poets who have the courage to look into the abyss, but there are very few who have the courage to look happiness in the face and write about it,' which is what I wanted to be able to do.

Well, I write a lot of poetry - that's where it usually all starts. I definitely want to show you guys sides of me - love, loss, heartbreak - all of that good stuff!

A lot of what has pushed me forward is desire, and I have expressed that in my songwriting - perhaps because it's safer!

It all has to do with art - writing, painting, things I've done for a long time but just never had enough time to pursue. I have poetry - things that are designed for songs, but they're always poems first.

I write to express my thoughts, my feelings. I want people to think.

I loved words. I love to sing them and speak them and even now, I must admit, I have fallen into the joy of writing them.

Poetry takes courage because you have to face things and you try to articulate how you feel.

Yes, I do often write poems from the mind, but I hope I don't ignore feelings and emotions.

I didn't know until high school that I was interested in writing in any real way. But there was this boy that I had a crush on, and I used to tell him all the time what I felt about him. Finally he gave me a blank journal and said to write it all down - and it didn't take me very long to realize how much I loved writing.

What my character is or how many jails I have lounged in, or wards or walls or wassails, how many lonely-heart poetry readings I have dodged, is beside the point. A man's soul or lack of it will be evident with what he can carve upon a white sheet of paper.

You have to write about what scares you.

I started writing out all of my feelings, and people asked me, 'Have you ever thought of recording your music?' It was something I'd always thought of, but I'd never really had the confidence.

The people I'm inspired by and I listen to are all ballsy, and I feel like I'm closer to an artist when they're open and honest.

Any real piece of writing is an act of courage.

That's what writing is. It's moving past your fear.

Writing is the starting point from which all goodness (and crappiness) flows.

I would feel dead if I didn't have the ability periodically to put my world in order with a poem. I think to be inarticulate is a great suffering, and is especially so to anyone who has a certain knack for poetry.

When I don't write, I feel my world shrinking. I feel I am in a prison. I feel I lose my fire and my color. It should be a necessity, as the sea needs to heave, and I call it breathing.

I started with poetry because it was direct, immediate, and short. It was the ecstasy of striking matches in the dark.

Find a way to express what moves you.

Write what you’re scared about.

Poets of course are even more unpredictable than other writers, overwhelmed as they are by the moment they inhabit and finding it difficult to connect yesterday with tomorrow.

I have a dark and dreadful secret. I write poetry... I believe poetry is a primal impulse within all of us. I believe we are all capable of it and furthermore that a small, often ignored corner of us positively yearns to try it.

Sometimes you have to be less ashamed about writing a bad poem than you would be about being silent.