Memorable Quotes from Creative Minds

 

By THIRSTY

 

In the hustle and bustle of 21st century life, there is comfort to draw and insight to gain from some of the most thoughtful people of our time. These ideas come from newsmakers in the arts that bring their particular perspectives to how they view the world and come from the Spring 2017 issue of Stay Thirsty Magazine. 

 

MARK CAMPBELL: Many people don’t realize that the libretto comes before the music in the writing of most contemporary opera. – Librettist for the Pulitzer Prize-winning American Opera Silent Night. 

 

KAY REDFIELD JAMISON: I would want to know what he [poet Robert Lowell] most loved in his life, in his work, in his friends and family, in his native New England; what he most missed about the sea and land; what he would read if he knew he had three months to live. – New York Times bestselling author and Professor of Psychiatry at Johns Hopkins Medicine.

 

WILLIAM LEAST HEAT-MOON: We all live and work between our illusions and the realities surrounding them, especially so if we define “illusions” to include our imaginative life, our dreams, our hopes, and many of our most fervent beliefs. – New York Times bestselling author and iconic travel writer.

 

RON RAINES: My longevity is based upon my desire to keep getting better at whatever it is I am doing. – Broadway and television legend.

 

NANCY SPIELBERG: We've all learned that visual testimonies are incredibly powerful tools to teach history to the next generation. – Award-winning documentary filmmaker.

 

JEAN HANFF KORELITZ: If you’re lucky enough to get a really great idea, don’t leave it lying there. It wants to live. – New York Times bestselling novelist and theatrical producer.

 

BRYAN HUNT: I felt that making art would make me happier, I had no idea of where being an artist would lead me or how I would survive, but that uncertainty didn’t bother me. – Award-winning sculptor. 

 

YEOU-CHENG MA: I follow the methodology of my father, who started both my brother [Yo-Yo Ma] and me on the simple principles of dividing any piece of music into tiny digestible chunks, as in “couper la difficulté en quatre” [“cut the difficulty into four”]. – Noted physician, musician and children’s orchestra proponent.

 

STEVEN JAY GRIFFEL: What Ishi taught the world about Stone Age culture, tradition, and technology is incalculable. – Amazon bestselling author.

 

CORKY SIEGEL: If I could name one thing that has contributed to the fact that people chose me to represent their passions, it’s because I’m truly happy. – Award-winning musician and composer.

 

MARK YOST: You either care about what happened there [the Holocaust], or you don’t. All the museums and monuments in the world won’t change that. – Journalist (Wall Street Journal) and novelist.

 

DANIEL WALLACE: Why is the first time “losing it?” It’s more about finding, really. – New York Times bestselling novelist.

 

DAVID SWINSON: Timothy Leary and Hunter S. Thompson, are the two people that have always stayed with me throughout my life. – New York Times bestselling novelist, former punk rock promoter and D.C. police officer.

 

SUSAN WILSON: The presence of a dog in the house—and, let’s be fair, cats also make quite effective surrogates—is the difference between living well and simply living. – New York Times bestselling novelist.

 

GERALD HAUSMAN: I pull the covers up to my chin, and dream. – Award-winning author and storyteller.

 

ABRIANA JETTÉ: Something I have learned along the way about poetry is that we don’t write for everyone in the world. – Amazon bestselling author and poetry anthologist.