One of the few blessings of living in an age of anxiety is that we are forced to become aware of ourselves.

Dogmatism of all kinds--scientific, economic, moral, as well as political--are threatened by the creative freedom of the artist. This is necessarily and inevitably so. We cannot escape our anxiety over the fact that the artists together with creative persons of all sorts, are the possible destroyer of our nicely ordered systems. (p. 76)

Artists do not run away from non-being, but by encountering and wrestling with it, force it to produce being.

All people are struggling to be creative in some way, and the artist is the one who has succeeded in this task of life.

... what the artist or creative scientist feels is not anxiety or fear; it is joy. I use the word in contrast to happiness or pleasure. The artist, at the moment of creating, does not experience gratification or satisfaction... Rather, it is joy, joy defined as the emotion that goes with heightened consciousness, the mood that accompanies the experience of actualizing one's own potentialities.

It is necessary for the birthing process to begin to move in its own organic time. It is necessary that the artist have this sense of timing, that he or she respect... periods of receptivity as part of the mystery of creativity and creation.

All our feelings, like the artist's paints and brush, are ways of communicating and sharing something meaningful from us to the world.

Every authentic artist is engaged in this creating of the conscience of the race, even though he or she may be unaware of the fact.

The receptivity of the artist must never be confused with passivity. Receptivity is the artist's holding him or herself alive and open to hear what being may speak.

Artists love to immerse themselves in chaos in order to put it into form, just as God created form out of chaos in Genesis. Forever unsatisfied with the mundane, the apathetic, the conventional, they always push on to newer worlds.

Dogmatism of all kinds--scientific, economic, moral, as well as political--are threatened by the creative freedom of the artist. This is necessarily and inevitably so. We cannot escape our anxiety over the fact that the artists together with creative persons of all sorts, are the possible destroyer of our nicely ordered systems. (p. 76)

Creative people... are distinguished by the fact that they can live with anxiety, even though a high price may be paid in terms of insecurity, sensitivity, and defenselessness for the gift of 'divine madness,' to borrow the term used by the classical Greeks.

The creative act arises out of the struggle of human beings with and against that which limits them.

Ecstasy is the accurate term for the intensity of consciousness that occurs in the creative act.

The daimonic is any natural function which has the power to take over the whole person. Sex and eros, anger and rage, and the craving for power are examples. The daimonic can be either creative or destructive and is normally both.

Life comes from physical survival; but the good life comes from what we care about.

Communication leads to community, that is, to understanding, intimacy and mutual valuing.

Tenderness emerges from the fact that the two persons, longing, as all individuals do, to overcome the separateness and isolation to which we are all heir because we are individuals, can participate in a relationship that, for the moment, is not of two isolated selves but a union

Inner sense of worth that comes with being in love does not seem to depend essentially on whether the love is returned or not.

When we "fall" in love, as the expressive verb puts it, the world shakes and changes around us, not only in the way it looks but in our whole experience of what we are doing in the world. Generally, the shaking is consciously felt in its positive aspects ... Love is the answer, we sing. ... our Western culture seems to be engaged in a romantic - albeit desperate - conspiracy to enforce the illusion that that is all there is to eros.

It is amazing how many hints and guides and intuitions for living come to the sensitive person who has ears to hear what his body is saying.

People attain worth and dignity by the multitude of decisions they make from day to day.

When I fall in love, I feel more valuable and I treat myself with more care. We have all observed the hesitant adolescent, uncertain of himself, who, when he or she falls in love, suddenly walks with a certain inner assuredness and confidence, a mien which seems to say, "You are looking at somebody now." ... this inner sense of worth that comes with being in love does not seem to depend essentially on whether the love is returned or not.

To love means to open ourselves to the negative as well as the positive - to grief, sorrow, and disappointment as well as to joy, fulfillment, and an intensity of consciousness we did not know was possible before

Human freedom involves our capacity to pause between the stimulus and response and, in that pause, to choose the one response toward which we wish to throw our weight. The capacity to create ourselves, based upon this freedom, is inseparable from consciousness or self-awareness. (p. 100)

Receptivity requires a nimbleness, a fine-honed sensitivity in order to let one's self be the vehicle of whatever vision may emerge.

Our thesis is that symbols and myths are an expression of man's unique self-consciousness, his capacity to transcend the immediate concrete situation and see his life in terms of 'the possible,' and that this capacity is one aspect of his experiencing himself as a being having a world.

Courage is not a virtue or value among other personal values like love or fidelity.It is the foundation that underlies and gives reality to all other virtues and personalvalues.

Always wash your face before you go to bed - skin care is key.

Music videos, to me, are like an extension of a song.

I wouldn't be an artist if I didn't have Shania Twain, Faith Hill, Taylor Swift to look up to.

I was living in Knoxville, Tennessee, and I didn't really know how you would become a singer. I didn't even think that I could do it. I didn't even dream about it. But when I was 12, it was that year where I got tall, boys got cute, everything was weird. Then my parents split up on top of that, so it was a big year of change for me.

I have a huge appreciation for music in general, but my roots are country.

When Florida Georgia Line and Nelly put out the 'Cruise' remix, it brought so many more people to country music.

I also grew up on a farm in east Tennessee, so my roots are just naturally super southern, so I've always had that southern country lifestyle.

I grew up loving music, like, loving it. I was involved in church choir, leading worship and all the choirs in my school - even glee club.

We had three cows and a goat. People from New York and L.A. are like, 'Oh my gosh, that's a farm!' But people in Tennessee are like, 'That's not a farm.' I've never milked a cow or anything like that.

When I was 15, my mom and I packed everything up and moved to Nashville so I could pursue my dream in music.

I did ballet, jazz, and all that, but I think hip-hop is really where I learned rhythm and groove, which has helped me in music.

In my opinion, it's all about the song and the performance, not the gender.

Hillary Scott from Lady Antebellum is like my big sister.

The fun thing about song writing is that it's just creative. It can be whatever you want it to be. For me, I'm really protective of that. I'm not going to write something because I feel like it fits here or it fits there - I just want to write music that feels good to me, you know?

The first album is an introduction, and when people listen to it top to bottom, I want them to know me.

People send me songs all the time that are literally no-brainer hits... but for me, I'm an artist because I'm a writer.

I was writing country songs, but I wasn't listening to country yet. I grew up on a farm in East Tennessee, so my roots are country, you know? But I didn't know where those songs came from or where they fit.

Even though there are incredible songs floating around Nashville, it's important for me to have my voice heard.

I try to exercise when I'm on road - I really do try - but I also try not to push myself too hard. I just try to move.

I think that, as artists, all we can do is be who we are. I think that if we do that, then we're automatically not anyone else.

There's value in being a normal person.

As a fan, I connect with realness. Whether it's strong or vulnerable, if it's real, I can connect with it.