Quotes About Expression

When we can't determine what is art - when you get to that point where we're not sure, that's the greatest likelihood that we're actually experiencing something great. But I think that's what the art world is most afraid of, because you lose that security. Then we don't know how to assign evaluation, whether it's cultural or otherwise.

I'm interested in telling the character's story, not my beliefs, political or otherwise.

They ought to put an amendment to the First Amendment that says there shall also be freedom of hearing.

'Sex' is as important as eating or drinking and we ought to allow the one appetite to be satisfied with as little restraint or false modesty as the other.

I never, ever decided that I had to write a novel because, to me, there's no such decision that ought to be made. It's only something that I felt compelled to do, and it began to evolve.

Dullness is the only crime for which an editor ought to be hung.

If you don't like my book, write your own. If you don't think you can write a novel, that ought to tell you something. If you think you can, do. No excuses. If you still don't like my novels, find a book you do like.

I don't really want to do the Hollywood thing. I think you ought to try to say something with your movies.

I really ought to try and make a film that's a bit more cynical. But I don't think I'd know how to do it. I think what it is, is that if you're a film director, you're basically there because you enjoy manipulating people's emotions.

It doesn't matter what kind of book you write - you ought to write it well and with some kind of style and elegance.

I just think the mood of the country is now that people don't necessarily want an elected official to tell them how they ought to cast their vote. Matter of fact, it's the opposite, and they want to express themselves, and they have a right to, and I'll respect their choice.

Ideally, writing ought to be like riding a bicycle: something you know how to do without having to think consciously about exactly what it is that you are doing.

You can have manic-depression without having an ounce of creativity.

I'm proud to be a member of the creative class, particularly here in Atlanta where the entertainment and creative industries form such an integral part of our economy, our culture, and our community.

David Longstreth is one of the great guitar heroes of our generation.

I truly believe Lorde is the voice of our generation.

I'm a firm believer that language and how we use language determines how we act, and how we act then determines our lives and other people's lives.

The best part of our lives is just every day when we are writing.

I'm an artist, and I need to work, like everybody. We need to be challenged and that we're getting up and doing something with our lives.

The quality of our lives is diminished every time we lose a great artist. It's a different world without Sam Cooke, Otis Redding, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Jim Morrison, Curtis Mayfield, Brian Jones and the rest.

Choosing is a creative process, one through which we construct our environment, our lives, ourselves.

Let me tell you something. I'm a funny girl, and I gave birth to what? Funny. I can't help it. It just is what it is, and my kids have been around my antics so long, it kind of rubs off a little bit. So when it comes to what you see, you only see what is really manifesting in our lives at the time.

'Cars 2' is about a character learning to be himself. There's times in our lives where people always say, 'Well, you've gotta act differently. You should always be yourself.' That's the emotional core of the story.

I write because I'm in love with language; because I like working for myself, inside my head; and because it's the only way I know to make a stab at answering the never-ending questions of the heart that arise simply from the everyday living of our lives.