P. D. James Quotes

Don't become too narrow. Live fully. Meet all kinds of people. You'll learn something from everyone. Follow what you feel in your heart.

I try my best to learn from other people's mistakes. I have a lot of respect for people who can change.

We all must support the arts, as it is our culture. It makes us better people. It makes us happy; it gives us empathy and shows us how to live. It is so important.

I also have a role model back in New Zealand, a woman called Miranda Harcourt. She's an actress and a writer. Her willingness to stay open to material is really great. I read a lot, and I try to watch and listen to diverse material.

I think people have to sharpen their eyes and look. I always feel like a big sponge: I feel like I learn lots of things by osmosis, and I feel that I'm always absorbing. I mean, when people say, 'What is your inspiration?' I could throw up. I mean, I'm inspired by the fact I get up in the morning. And I'm still here.

The words come from here. From memories, from dreams, from people I've known. I'm always writing and reflecting on life. I want to suck it all in.

I read, I watch a lot of movies, I'm constantly living, so I'm constantly having more to say.

I'm inspired by everything that goes on around me; my friends; my family; my own feelings; or even things that are happening in the world.

I love talking to strangers and absorb their life experiences.

Working with different people anyway is like life and meeting different people... as long as you can be empathetic, you can take a bit of them on and see what you can do to help their process. That said, my relationship with Woody Allen was trying to hang on his every word so that I could tell everybody what he said afterwards. But certainly, he was a very good example of somebody who you didn't hear talk above a very low volume for the entire time he was on-set.

...fiction is made out of the writer's experience, his whole life from infancy on, everything he's thought and done and seen and read and dreamed. But experience isn't something you go and get - it's a gift, and the only prerequisite for receiving it is that you be open to it. A closed soul can have the most immense adventures, go through a civil war or a trip to the moon, and have nothing to show for all that "experience"; whereas the open soul can do wonders with nothing.

You don't spend most of your life in other people's heads without losing every prejudice you ever had.

I love to write - it is a great source of reflection, especially as I continue to meet many new inspiring people.

Moment to moment, I'm very much just feeling and trying to synthesize what I'm taking in so it can come out musically. I'll continue to do that. I'm also someone who really likes to push themselves into new situations with new people and try to learn from them. I will be very happy to continue doing that, if people let me.

There is power in understanding the journey of others to help create your own

Rahman sir keeps pushing himself. He keeps trying new things, whether it is his craft, music or sound... he is always learning. He looks for opportunities to learn, even from children.

My biggest bits of advice are, write as much as you can, finish what you start, get a thick skin, don't take crap from anyone, but also live your life and have fun. The stereotype of a writer holed up alone all day is really unhelpful. You can't write real people and real emotion if you don't let yourself experience them.

I think you can learn from pretty much everybody if you just open your eyes.

I take inspiration from my own experiences and from other people's experiences.

All I am doing every day is soaking in everything - I'm like a sponge, from all these award-winning directors, writers, and actors - as much as I can.

Every writer needs new material now and then, whether it's traveling to Japan, volunteering at a food bank, learning a new language, or trying a new food.

I think one of my best qualities is my ability to empathize with people. Perhaps it's because my journey has been so bumpy.

My all-time favorite TED talks are Brene Brown's 'The Power of Vulnerability' and Sir Ken Robinson's 'Do Schools Kill Creativity.'

Characters I create are just mixtures of the people I know.

I had to learn about patience, to let the music get its own spirit and voice.