Maya Angelou // "Because of the routines we follow, we often forget that life is an ongoing adventure...and the sooner we realize that, the quicker we will be able to treat life as art: to bring all our energies to each encounter, to remain flexible enough to notice and admit when what we expected to happen did not happen. We need to remember that we are created creative and can invent new scenarios as frequently as they are needed."
James Baldwin // "The place in which I'll fit will not exist until I make it."
David Lynch // "You don't know yourself by talking to yourself or looking in the mirror. You know yourself by diving in and experiencing the self."
Björk // "I realized I could have an easy life...just have a glass of Cognac and good books and two jobs and do my songs in the evening, but I would be such a consumer, taking it all in and not giving anything back. I thought: Ok...if I don’t go on a mission now and make some sacrifices, as these people did, I will never forgive myself."
Charles Bukowski // "Those faces you see every day on the streets were not created entirely without hope: be kind to them."
David Bowie // "Something that I’ve had a real push-pull relationship all my life is the idea of being trapped and pinned down and categorized. I always felt it would be like prison to me…if I got to, 'Oh, he’s that.' It would sort of rip my guts out as a writer…because my writing is based on the idea of transience. My writing is a very clear understanding that nothing in this world is a real reality. It’s not something you can hold on to. It can be something you can enjoy briefly, tentatively for the moment that it’s there…love or a sunset or whatever…but like a sunset…it’s a transitory thing. And I didn’t want to get locked into being this one thing… Once I’ve done something and said it the way I felt it should be said, drop it and move on."
Sidney Poitier // "While collectively you can change things, you can do that only if you firmly believe that you, as an individual can make a difference… I am not suggesting that you devote your life to being a missionary. You are entitled to your share of love and joy and leisure and pure happiness. But within the warm periphery of your life, there should be room for passionate involvement. As the Italian poet Antonio Porchia put it: 'In a full heart there is room for everything, and in an empty heart there is room for nothing.'"
Hayao Miyazaki // "There are so many things we can’t do anything about if we think about generalities. Things won’t go well because there is a huge gap between the generalities and the particulars. If we see generalities from the top of a mountain or from a plane, we feel it’s hopeless, but if we go down, there is a nice road running about fifty meters, we feel this is a nice road, and if the weather is fine and shining, we feel we can go on… Since the people in the community are cleaning up the river in my neighborhood, I join them when I have the time. A human can often be satisfied with the particulars. That’s what I like best these days."
Jonas Mekas // "I have no idea what winds are driving me and where. But I chose this way, this way without directions. I chose it myself… So let me continue. I don’t want to look back. Not yet. Ahead, ahead…I am pushing."
Jean-Luc Godard // "He who jumps into the void owes no explanation to those who stand and watch."
Joni Mitchell // "This is what I think about people: They want, they want and they want. However, if I actually gave them what they wanted, then they'd just get sick of it... People get sick of your name. People get sick of your face. It doesn't matter what you do. Recognizing those times, I would go even further out. I figured they're going to get me anyway, so I may as well stretch out."
Leonard Cohen // "Take the word butterfly. To use this word it is not necessary to make the voice weigh less than an ounce or equip it with small dusty wings. It is not necessary to invent a sunny day or a field of daffodils. It is not necessary to be in love, or to be in love with butterflies. The word butterfly is not a real butterfly… Do not make so much of the word. Are you trying to suggest that you love butterflies more perfectly than anyone else, or really understand their nature? The word butterfly is merely data… Do not act out words. Never act out words. Never try to leave the floor when you talk about flying. Never close your eyes and jerk your head to one side when you talk about death… What is the expression which the age demands? The age demands no expression whatever… There is nothing you can show on your face that can match the horror of this time. Do not even try. You will only hold yourself up to the scorn of those who have felt things deeply… Everyone knows you are eating well and are even being paid to stand up there… This should make you very quiet. Speak the words, convey the data, step aside… You have nothing to teach them. You are not more beautiful than they are. You are not wiser… You are among the people. Then be modest… You are students of discipline. Do not act out the words. The words die when you act them out, they wither, and we are left with nothing but your ambition. Speak the words with the exact precision with which you would check out a laundry list. Do not become emotional about the lace blouse… The socks are not there to remind you of strange and distant voyages. It is just your laundry. It is just your clothes… Just wear them… Think of the words as science, not as art. They are a report... Do not work the audience for gasps and sighs. If you are worthy of gasps and sighs it will not be from your appreciation of the event but from theirs. It will be in the statistics and not the trembling of the voice or the cutting of the air with your hands. It will be in the data and the quiet organization of your presence. Avoid the flourish. Do not be afraid to be weak."