Reflection and Refinement Quotes

Generally I always take genuine criticism. It's part of football.

Writing a memoir begins a process that doesn't necessarily end with publication. You begin to think about family life and stories and relationships, and those are ongoing.

Everybody has auditioned and failed. You learn from that. It's how you learn your craft.

We've all heard that we have to learn from our mistakes, but I think it's more important to learn from successes. If you learn only from your mistakes, you are inclined to learn only errors.

Believe me, I think if I stopped writing when I left The Voice I would have quite a legacy. But the fact of the matter was, it never occurred to me to stop.

Think small. Don't pretend you know the answers. Experiment; get feedback. These are all the premises of 'Think Like a Freak,' really.

We kind of reached this point in life where we don't really want to put out anything just to put something out. We really don't want it to be like, 'Two years are up. You've had your break; now do another record and get it out there.'

I wouldn't be where I am today without my mistakes. Particularly my mistakes. Exclusively my mistakes.

I hadn't published a book of poetry in over a decade because I've been very ill. As I got better and started to write, I said, 'Wow, even as an old woman, I could have a selected book of poems.'

One cannot advance without mistakes... It is necessary to make mistakes. The party cannot be educated without learning from mistakes. This has great significance.

You finish a project and start looking for something that might interest you. A lot of the films I've made are a reaction to something I've done right before.

I remember my first review in London said I was the next Peter Brook. I said: 'No way. I'm not Peter Brook. I don't have the maturity, the experience, the intelligence. Don't burden me.'

I've always thought, since the beginning of my career, that it was better to take your time and write some good stuff and then go in and not be pushed or forced into just crankin' stuff out, whether it was great or not.

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

As I experience life, my music is gonna evolve. At the same time, I still do tell the stories from my world because there are unlimited stories and unlimited people from that place. I'll always represent them. As my life begins to change and I do different things, I still want to be able to tap in and relate to them.

After I left Treasury, I think in some ways it was harder to sit there and be writing my book... listening to all the criticism.

A lot of times, when I record with a group, I'll stay after class for another hour or two and go, 'Let me try a bunch of things I was thinking of, as you were doing that.'

When I make a mistake once, it's usually not going to happen again.

I often turn to my books when my own writing is having a hard time.

When I'm writing, I try to think about what would make a song better before worrying about personal opinions.

I've turned my back on fancy parties and red carpets. I'm a writer, and if I did that, I'd never get anything done.

'The Missing Picture' came together slowly, after much provocation and by refusing different forms, until I finally found the right form.

I believe that nothing is more important to our ability to effectively address our present than understanding the lessons learned from those who have come before us.

I played until 37-years-old and my last three or four years I learnt the most.

You write a song about how you think at the time, and then gradually you drift away from that, and when it's far enough in the past, that's when you think, 'Now I have to write something new.'