David Quotes

Is giving in to the photographer's presumably natural impulse to compose and light well sometimes okay and not okay other times?

Artists are notoriously snooty and suspicious of anything coming from the business community.

Personally, being somewhat envious of Richard's (Thompson) songwriting and guitar playing, it's somewhat satisfying he's not yet achieved household-name status. It serves him right for being so good.

People will do odd things if you give them money.

I have trouble imagining what I could do that's beyond the practicality of what I can do.

I should watch network television, or daytime television, because I'm not sure who all these people are who keep getting referred to in blogs and newspapers. I better get myself culturally attuned.

I read the NY Times but I don't trust all of it

Another Elvis will not come along. He got wasted, but it's alright.

The assumption is that your personal life has to be a mess to create, but how much chaos can you allow in before it takes over?

Physical contact is a human necessity.

People hear about stuff from their friends or a magazine or a newspaper.

I'm concerned that my technical skills have advanced to the point where I can get closer to what I'm aiming for, which is not such a good thing.

I came to New York to be a fine artist - that was my ambition.

We don't make music, it makes us

I don't believe that crime, danger and poverty make for good art. That's bullshit.

One of the benefits of playing to small audiences in small clubs for a few years is that you're allowed to fail.

I think sometimes - not always - I write songs that are accessible.

We live in ugly times.

I have something to say about the difference between American and European cities, but I forgot what it was. I have it written down at home somewhere.

I'm very much into making lists and breaking things apart into categories.

Architecture theory is very interesting.

In a certain way, you get some new tools to work with, but I don't know if it ultimately makes the creative process any easier.

If I'm feeling that I have an angle or something to say or something where in a way I'm having a conversation with myself, that's immensely pleasurable.

There's a great temptation to clean everything up and make everything more perfect. You have to know when to stop and stop doing it, or you might end up with something that sounds metronomic.

People are renovating places and opening ambitious new venues. That's one thing that music does. It gets people out of their houses, and gets them hanging out together.

There's a pervasive feeling that when somebody sings a song and records a song on a record, that it's their true feeling.

There's still a feeling that uncensored emotions make a good song. They don't. Pure emotion is just somebody screaming at you, or crying. It doesn't communicate anything.

A lot of that worked itself out in the recording.

A lot of cities are making a real effort, neighborhood by neighborhood, to make themselves into a place where life can be pretty good.

I always said, you have to have a goal and an objective in life.

I always - I knew from day one , in college, that I wanted to be a teacher .But I don't think I had envisioned becoming a professor at the time. I remained a history major until 1951.

The principles of the United States Constitution are, because of Senator Byrd, still the heartbeat of the US Senate.

NCS - National Citizen Service is a fantastic programme. I want it to be available for every young person in the country.

The well of public opinion has been well and truly poisoned by the Iraq episode.

I think it was right to remove Saddam Hussein. I think it was the right decision then and I still think it was right now.

The economies in Europe that will prosper, are those that are the greenest and the most energy efficient

All those countries who keep their aid promises should be proud of what they've done

The legacy of Mandela is to have brought the country together... South Africa can be one of the success stories of the 21st century.

There are three things about Barack that really stand out for me: strength, moral authority, and wisdom. ... He has pressed the reset button on the moral authority of the entire free world.

The world economy is more stable than for a generation ... Our hugely sophisticated financial markets match funds with ideas better than ever before.

Warm congratulations to my friend Barack Obama. Look forward to continuing to work together.

Mrs Cameron keeps a rather better weekend diary than I do.

The murders in Paris are sickening, we stand with the French people in the fight against terror and defending the freedom of the press.

Nelson Mandela was a towering figure in our time; a legend in life and now in death - a true global hero.

I think it will help people have a better work-life balance, that's really important - that's the centre ground for me, it's the issues people care about in their lives.

There is not, in my view, a single European demos.

Easter is all about remembering the importance of change, responsibility, and doing the right thing for the good of our children.

Just as I believe that Britain should want to remain in the EU so the EU should want us to stay.

Whatever new arrangements are enacted for the Eurozone, they must work fairly for those inside it and out.

It is national parliaments, which are, and will remain, the true source of real democratic legitimacy and accountability in the EU.