Initial Spark Quotes

I'd say the key thing is to remain true to what originally got you into music. When I wrote 'Hallelujah,' it ignited me to do music because of the love and joy that I got from writing that song. Down the road, you get all of these opinions from people; just remember what got you started in the first place.

Even the largest avalanche is triggered by small things.

The words, "I have a dog named Winn-Dixie," popped into my head in the voice of a small girl with a southern accent. I'd been writing long enough at that point to know not to ignore that kind of red flag. The next day, I put aside what I'd been working on, started with that one sentence, and followed it all the way to the end.

Somehow, the words don't have any vitality, any life to them, unless I can feel it marking on a paper. That's how I start. Once I'm off, then I switch to the laptop. I think it would all just be prose if it started on a laptop - not that what I do is poetry.

When I was 10 years old, that nuclear spark hit me. Whatever it may be, I really don't know what it was about nuclear science, but whatever it was that triggered that interest, it stuck. I went after that one with a passion.

I realized that even big waves start with small ripples

What I want is to live of that initial and primordial something that was what made some things reach the point of aspiring to be human.

The initial spark, your affection for the characters, all those things can disappear. It's a perilous thing.

I used to think--and given the way we ended up, maybe I still do--that all relationships need the kind of violent shove that a crush brings, just to get you started and to push you over the humps. And then, when the energy from that shove has gone and you come to something approaching a halt, you have to look around and see what you've got. It could be something completely different, it could be something roughly the same, but gentler and calmer, or it could be nothing at all.

When you first start singing something after you've written it, it has this sort of sparkle to it. And if you capture that, that's luck.

At 35, I'm thinking, Oh, I don't have any of that initial inspiration that I had before, all that angst. I always thought I would burn out very quickly.

What I'm identifying with is the vision or the idea - whatever was the little nugget that started it.

There was a beautiful time in the beginning when I just did it and didn't analyze the consequences, but I think that time ends in everyone's work.

I work off of my early demos. I'll keep adding on top of that, but I usually gravitate towards whatever that original idea was.

Wherever your musical interest takes you, whether it's just in your garage or in your shower, never forget why you started. Keep that first and foremost in your mind.

Many a friendship, long, loyal, and self-sacrificing, rested at first on no thicker a foundation than a kind word.

The first thing we do is sit around a table and discuss what we could pick up from daily life, from space. That's how it starts, completely abstract. There's no kind of, "Oh, let's do Peru," or "Let's do pleats," you know?

I will always look to approach every project like it's my first.

The beauty of architecture is it involves work that stretches over a very long time but often starts in one instant, with just one emotion, a kind of instinctual response.

If I'm not in love with the script, there's nothing. It doesn't matter what you give me. It has to start with the script.

A synopsis is a cold thing. You do it with the front of your mind. If you're going to stay with it, you never get quite the same magic as when you're going all out.

It starts with a single sound. If there's something in that sound, then it's worth continuing.