When I sit down to write a novel, I am exploring my own relationship with God, with the struggle between good and evil, my own purpose.
‐‐ Ted Dekker
When I sit down to write a scene, I have a plan in mind, and I'm thrilled when a character disregards my goals and takes the story to a place I hadn't imagined.
‐‐ Lauren Kate
When I sit down to write a song, I really want the message of healing to thrive and transcend all ages.
‐‐ Jason Mraz
When I sit down to write a song, it's a kind of improvisation, but I formalize it a bit to get it into the studio, and when I step up to a microphone, I have a vague idea of what I'm about to do.
‐‐ Paul McCartney
When I sit down to write a song, there is no filter. I'm not trying to write for anyone or anything specifically. It's just trying to capture a little piece of your soul - even if it's a really ugly part.
‐‐ Jenny Lewis
When I sit down to write, I consider myself an artist.
‐‐ Barbara Kingsolver
When I sit down to write, I don't have any real goals except to follow one good sentence with another... I'm not the kind of writer who has a map.
‐‐ Melissa Bank
When I sit down to write, I don't think about writing about an idea or a given message. I just try to write a story which is hard enough.
‐‐ Jhumpa Lahiri
When I sit down to write, I don't think, 'OK, what is the next David O. Russell film I can write, or what is Harvey Weinstein going to want to buy?' Or even, 'What are filmgoers going to want.' I try to think, tell a good story. Just do what you do.
‐‐ Matthew Quick
When I sit down to write, I just let the goose out of the bottle.
‐‐ Tom Robbins
When I sit down to write, I know everything I need to know... I start writing, and within 30 seconds or 60 seconds, I'm watching a movie. I'm not making this stuff up; the characters are acting it out,and I'm just writing it down.
‐‐ M. J. Rose
When I sit down with my notebook, when I start scribbling words across the page, I find out what I'm feeling.
‐‐ Dani Shapiro
When I sit here and see that the eight brothers from the neighborhood that I grew up with still have success, it had to be magical. I doubt if you get another 'Wu-Tang Clan.' That might be harder than getting the new 'Jackson Five.' Certain groups you only get one time, and we just happened to be that group.
‐‐ Raekwon
When I slept it was literally in the midst of an arsenal. If I heard dogs bark more fiercely than usual, or the feet of horses in a greater volume of sound than usual, I stood to arms.
‐‐ Frank James
When I smell pho, I just automatically think of my mom. All these nostalgic feelings and memories come rushing through my head.
‐‐ Michelle Phan
When I sold my first book, 'A Conspiracy of Tall Men,' it was part of a two-book deal. It wasn't hugely lucrative, but it was enough money for me to quit the paralegal job I had in San Francisco.
‐‐ Noah Hawley
When I sold my first business, I wanted to do something nice for my dad. I wanted to give my parents a bunch of money, but they wouldn't take anything from me. They were so happy for me; they felt they didn't need money.
‐‐ Robert Herjavec
When I sold my first company at 30, I could have done whatever I wanted to do.
‐‐ Shai Agassi
When I speak at my local church, which I try to do 35 to 40 times a year, I try in every lesson to take the Old Testament text or New Testament text and apply them to what is happening to me or how that applies to the audience that I'm teaching in a modern, fast-changing, technological world. I use headlines, interfaith and that sort of thing.
‐‐ Jimmy Carter
When I speak English, I've been told, I have this patrician way of speaking that's very irritating. It's the whole class thing.
‐‐ Kristin Scott Thomas
When I speak in English, my expressions become different. My attitude, too. I'm not sure why, but there really is a difference. My hands move differently when I speak English.
‐‐ Gong Li
When I speak it is in order to be heard.
‐‐ Roman Jakobson
When I speak of artistic universals, I am not denying the enormous role played by culture. Obviously culture plays a tremendous role, otherwise you wouldn't have different artistic styles - but it doesn't follow that art is completely idiosyncratic and arbitrary, either, or that there are no universal laws.
‐‐ Vilayanur S. Ramachandran
When I speak of 'cycles,' I am referring to lengthy intervals of relative homogeneity, if not in the resolving of problems, than at least with respect to the consistency of their capacity to productively irritate.
‐‐ Brian Ferneyhough
When I speak of drama, I'm really referring to just 'desperately trying not to be ordinary'. Trying to get something that has a little bit of friction, conflict, absurdity.
‐‐ Gore Verbinski
When I speak of family, I immediately think of a support system who can give you a reality check when you need it: a mirror reflection of myself. I believe that we are a result of our family - the people who encourage us and tell us the truth about who we are which helps us to grow through their advice and wisdom.
‐‐ Tasha Smith
When I speak of natural drummers I'm talking about guys that are playing with the talent God gave 'em.
‐‐ Gene Krupa
When I speak of the beauty of a game of chess, then naturally this is subjective. Beauty can be found in a very technical, mathematical game for example. That is the beauty of clarity.
‐‐ Vladimir Kramnik
When I speak out against the guns or against the big corporations, some of my friends say, 'Oh Yoko, be careful. These people have all the power.' But, you know, most people don't speak out because they are frightened.
‐‐ Yoko Ono
When I speak to a victim or their family, people who were left bruised and battered by someone, and can give them some small relief, I know I'm winning in some small way, and I'm part of a process that sometimes works.
‐‐ Loretta Lynch
When I speak to people from Britain, that's when I feel like a fake, speaking with an American accent.
‐‐ Matthew Rhys
When I speak to people I worked with when I was young, they constantly tell me they wish their students would work half as hard as I did. I was always one to get a lot more out of myself, seeing the glass as half-empty rather than half-full.
‐‐ Milos Raonic
When I speak to students and they ask how much money you can make in art, as if that is a reason to persue it, I tell them to do something else.
‐‐ Joe Murray
When I speak with people who love their jobs and have vital friendships at work, they always talk about how their workgroup is like a family.
‐‐ Tom Rath
When I spend money on myself, it's almost always on shoes and clothes. I'm addicted to shoes. I always have been, since I was a kid. When I was young, I could never get the shoes I really wanted.
‐‐ Matt Kemp
When I split an infinitive, God damn it, I split it so it will stay split.
‐‐ Raymond Chandler
When I spoke, I was listened to; and I was at a loss to know how I had so easily acquired the art of commanding attention, and giving the tone to the conversation.
‐‐ Adelbert von Chamisso
When I staged the play and narrated my story to the audience, people found it amazing that after facing so many hardships, I have gone on to do 482 films.
‐‐ Anupam Kher
When I stand before God at the end of my life, I would hope that I would not have a single bit of talent left, and could say, 'I used everything you gave me'.
‐‐ Erma Bombeck
When I start a book, I write a minimum of five pages every day, except weekends. If I'm going on a ski trip, I take my computer with me, get up at six, do my five pages, and then go skiing.
‐‐ Elizabeth George
When I start a book, it's every day. There is no Saturday, no Sunday. It's every day, because if I stop one day, I'm afraid of losing the book and losing the energy.
‐‐ Eric-Emmanuel Schmitt
When I start a movie, the first day, I feel like a duck.
‐‐ Penelope Cruz
When I start a movie, there will be certain films that I watch again just because the vibe seems right.
‐‐ Noah Baumbach
When I start a new novel and find myself diverted by domestic activities, many of which I genuinely enjoy, I panic that I will never write another word.
‐‐ Christina Baker Kline
When I start any book, I have no idea what I'm going to do.
‐‐ Jon Krakauer
When I start doing movies, that'll be the time to pack Vine in. Quit when you're on top. Be the king.
‐‐ King Bach
When I start getting close to the end of a novel, something registers in the back of my mind for the next novel, so that I usually don't write, or take notes. And I certainly don't begin. I just allow things to percolate for a while.
‐‐ Richard Russo
When I start getting embroiled in heated debates and feeling stressed, I just turn everything off and disconnect from the world. I simply tell my colleagues and friends that I am not well and need to cancel all meetings for a day or more. I take it easy - go for a long hike, take a vacation somewhere, or just stay at home and read.
‐‐ Vivek Wadhwa
When I start playing I'm just a rollercoaster of sound. I don't know what's coming next, I never do, and I sit and sign and talk to the people afterwards.
‐‐ Dick Dale
When I start something, I know people I am working with, it's a project they're interested in.
‐‐ Tony Gilroy
When I start thinking about a role, I read the script a few times and then let it sink in - and then take some time to develop how that character is going to play out and what he's going to do.
‐‐ Craig Robinson
When I start to get that few pounds, which I try to monitor, then I just pull back. So it's really just being conscious.
‐‐ Carl Weathers
When I start to write, I don't have any plan at all. I just wait for the story to come.
‐‐ Haruki Murakami
When I start to write, words have become physical presence. It was to see if I could bring that private world to life that found its first expression through reading. I really dislike the romantic notion of the artist.
‐‐ John McGahern
When I start working on a batch of tunes - like roughly 10 solid tunes - I always know there'll be another 10 to follow, because for every song I invest a lot of time in, there's another song waiting behind it.
‐‐ Ryan Adams