Quotes About Expression

A lot of people hear it in a dark way, but, I think, without saying the word too many times, it's empowering, and so we wanted to display that in a way that the listener wouldn't see normally." - Dan Reynold

One man's blasphemy doesn't override other people's free-speech rights, their freedom to publish, freedom of thought.

It's odd how violence and humor so often go together, isn't it?

Writing, I'm convinced, should be a subversive activity - frowned on by the authorities - and not one cooed over and praised beyond common sense by some teacher.

To be a true poet is to become God. I tried to explain this to my friends on Heaven's Gate. 'Piss, shit,' I said. 'Asshole motherfucker, goddamn shit goddamn. Cunt. Pee-pee cunt. Goddamn!' They shook their heads and smiled, and walked away. Great poets are rarely understood in their own day.

Words are the only bullets in truth's bandolier. And poets are the snipers.

Prison always has been a good place for writers, killing, as it does, the twin demons of mobility and diversion

A painting is never finished—it simply stops in interesting places.

Perhaps you will learn from this that books are sacred to free men for very good reasons, and that wars have been fought against nations which hate books and burn them. If you are an American, you must allow all ideas to circulate freely in your community, not merely your own. . . .

In this painting the artist has become more dominant than his subjects

words that would be howl'd out in the desert air, where hearing should not latch them.

Breton considered suicide the truest art, though life seemed hardly worth the trouble to discard.

I can't find the words." She stared daggers at him. "Don't hurt yourself trying.

Her hand jerked, leaving an angry slash in the middle of the canvas. A headache drummed to life in the back of her skull. It's not going to happen today. She ignored the shiver that skipped down her spine. This is a normal day. I'm painting a normal composition. But it was too late. It was happening already. She squeezed her eyes shut against the images flooding her brain, but no resistance would help now. She couldn't escape.

She drew the main outline, keeping her fingers on the ferrule—the metal piece that clamped the bristles to the handle—and created a nose, mouth, and eyelids. For a moment, she wondered what color his eyes might be, then shoved aside the macabre thought. He had a strong, square jaw, his hair pushed back, looking sticky from the dirt that had been thrown directly onto his face.

Do you need an audience to create work, or does not having an audience liberate you and make you a truer artist?

A lie of invention, a lie about yourself, should not be called a lie. It needs a different word.

Ultimately, it will help ensure that more of what you like to read will be written. Thank you.

Not everybody reads poetry or listens to music, but every single person in the world gets up in the morning and puts on something, and whether you like it or not, that's a statement about who you are.

I open my eyes and see that Chase isn't looking at me anymore. He's staring at Jeremy because that song, or course, is coming from Jeremy's mouth. From his heart. His soul.

Share Your Thoughts

Your job as a writer is to say as truthfully as you can what you see and how you feel. Writing is a high-wire act. It's best not to look at the other circus performers but to attend to the wire.

Everything you need to know about life can be learned from a genuine and ongoing attempt to write

Act as if you're a writer. Sit down and begin. Act as if you might just create something beautiful, and by beautiful I mean something authentic and universal. Don't wait for anybody to tell you it's okay.