Later in life, one of the compensations is gliding effortlessly into focus in a thing. Since it is who we are, anything that is not the focus or supportive thereof is just not us. Even outside issues, when they arise, are interesting in that they only help define the focus more clearly.
I don’t think politicians should be allowed into power who are not familiar with their bodies, because that’s where our bottom line is. And I know that they would make totally different decisions if they felt responsible simply for their own bodies.
If you’re speaking of love, you really must include the element of uncertainty – and perhaps it’s best approached as the art of constant maintenance.
I don’t think that scheduling is uncreative. I think that structure is required for creativity.
Easily acquired. Inexpensive. Perfectly functional. Portable. Identifiable. Disposable. Eternal enough. These are my criteria for the perfect storage system. And I’ve found the answer in the simple file box.
I’ve always found it necessity to strip away everything but the most fundamental ways to work – the rest is style.
A commission is an invitation to fall in love.
I’ve survived inattention. I hope to God I survive attention.
In the end all collaborations are love stories.
With each piece I’ve completed I have worked to make it intact, and each of them has been an equal high. It’s like children. A mother refuses to pick out one as a favorite, and I can’t do any better with the dances.
I think a sense of humor will help get a girl out of a dark place.
Concentrate: you can’t have it all.
I have learned over the years that you should never save for two meetings what you can accomplish in one.
One clear difference between art and commercial work is that commercial work is exploitive: the work may be high quality but the intention is to sell product or tickets. Art exists with or without ticket sales.
If you’re at a dead end, take a deep breath, stamp your foot, and shout “Begin!” You never know where it will take you.
You are never lonely when the mind is engaged.
You don’t get lucky without preparation, and there’s no sense in being prepared if you’re not open to the possibility of a glorious accident.
Venturing out of your comfort zone may be dangerous, yet do it anyways because our ability to grow is directly proportional to an ability to entertain the uncomfortable.
As Mozart himself wrote to a friend, “People err who think my art comes easily to me. I assure you, dear friend, nobody has devoted so much time and thought to composition as I. There is not a famous master whose music I have not industriously studied through many times.
In those long and sleepless nights when I’m unable to shake my fears sufficiently, I borrow a biblical epigraph from Dostoyevsky’s The Demons: I see my fears being cast into the bodies of wild boars and hogs, and I watch them rush to a cliff where they fall to their deaths.