Glenn Gould // "The purpose of art is not the release of a momentary ejection of adrenaline…but rather the gradual, lifelong construction of a state of wonder and serenity."
Jorge Luis Borges // "I am not sure that I exist, actually. I am all the writers that I have read, all the people that I have met, all the women that I have loved; all the cities I have visited."
Tina Turner // "Sometimes you have to let everything go...purge yourself. If you are unhappy with anything, whatever is bringing you down, get rid of it. Because you will find that when you are free...your true self comes out."
Albert Camus // "Go out for a walk. It doesn't have to be a romantic walk in the park... It doesn't have to be a walk during which you'll have multiple life epiphanies and discover meanings no other brain ever managed to encounter. Do not be afraid of spending quality time by yourself... That doesn't make you antisocial or cause you to reject the rest of the world. But you need to breathe. And you need to be."
bell hooks // "Knowing how to be solitary is central to the art of loving. When we can be alone, we can be with others without using them as means of escape."
Stanley Kubrick // "If you really want to communicate something, even if it’s just an emotion or an attitude, let alone an idea, the least effective and least enjoyable way is directly. It only goes in about an inch. But if you can get people to the point where they have to think a moment what it is you’re getting at, and then discover it, the thrill of discovery goes right through the heart."
Tom Robbins // "It doesn't matter how sensitive you are or how damn smart and educated you are, if you're not both at the same time, if your heart and your brain aren't connected, aren't working together harmoniously, well, you're just hopping through life on one leg. You may think you're walking, you may think you're running a damn marathon, but you're only on a hop trip. The connections gotta be maintained."
Werner Herzog // "I'm trying to find these rare moments where you feel completely illuminated. Facts never illuminate you. The phone directory of Manhattan doesn't illuminate you, although it has factually correct entries, millions of them. But these rare moments of illumination that you find when you read a great poem, you instantly know. You instantly feel this spark of illumination. You are almost stepping outside of yourself and you see something sublime."
Thelonious Monk // "The only cats worth anything are the cats that take chances."
Björk // "I find workaholism really anti-fertile. For example, in my work with Scandinavian schools with biophilia, it is very apparent that short schooldays and a lot of free time inspires the imagination most and not only makes the kids happier but also they make more original things in the end. I’ve seen how the working until midnight in the biggest cities is really destructive...and you aren’t coming up with any new ideas but just repeating old stuff on a loop."
Jean-Luc Godard // "I’m very solitary, that’s all… I can’t dismiss it. Inside, I’m very much in communication with a lot of people and things who absolutely don’t know I’m in communication with them."
Andy Warhol // "Sometimes people let the same problem make them miserable for years when they could just say, 'So what.' 'My mother didn't love me.' So what... 'I'm a success but I'm still alone.' So what. I don't know how I made it through all the years before I learned how to do that trick. It took a long time for me to learn it, but once you do, you never forget."