Rick Rubin

"Making art is a mystical process — a lot of people who are artists don't understand it themselves. Especially the young ones. They feel different, but they don't know what it is. They feel more. Everything hurts. Everything. They're supersensitive. They see things that other people don't see."

"The Beatles are proof of the existence of God."

"I guess edgy things tend to get my attention."

"Living life as an artist is a practice. You can engage in the practice or not. It makes no sense to say you're not good at it. It's like saying, "I'm not good at being a monk." You either live as a monk or not. We tend to think of the artist's work as the output. The artist's real work is a way of being in the world."

"There’s great wisdom in transitional realms between wakefulness and sleep. Right before you fall asleep, what thoughts and ideas come to you? How do you feel when you wake from a dream? [...] Keeping a dream journal might be of use. Place a pen and paper next to the bed, and as soon as you wake up, begin writing immediately with as much detail as possible before doing anything else."

"If several directions seem captivating, consider crafting more than one experiment at a time. Working on several often brings about a healthy sense of detachment."

"If you’re holding a center puzzle piece in your hand and staring at an empty tabletop, it’s difficult to determine where to place it. If all of the puzzle is complete except for that one piece, then you know exactly where it goes. The same is generally true of art. The more of the work you can see, the easier it becomes to gracefully place the final details clearly where they belong."

"Wrestling's real, and the world is fake."