Joni Mitchell Quotes

I'm irresponsible to my career in order to paint. Because painting is obsessive. I forget to eat. I forget to sleep.

I love painting so much that nothing else matters.

Passion is the thing that sustains you in acting. If you're doing it for fame and money, don't even bother because it will never happen. The last thing I ever expected was to be paid for this.

If you love something - and there are things that I love - you do want more and more and more of it, but that's not the way to produce good work.

The time that I devote to painting is not a lot of time, but I do it 100 percent while I am working, and then there's nothing else that counts.

And much as I enjoy writing and creating stuff, I don't enjoy it so much that I am willing to give up any time that could otherwise be spent performing.

Nothing right can be accomplished in art without enthusiasm.

I love to go to the studio and stay there 10 or 12 hours a day. I love it. What is it? I don't know. It's life.

You have to feed your soul and spirit, but you also have to be a professional and remember the business that you're in. Everything is not your passion project.

I write fifteen hours a day, stopping at Oprah-o'clock.

When I'm hard at work, when I'm deep in it, there is no other feeling. For me, my work is at all times building a nation out of thin air. It is manning the troops. It is painting a canvas. It is hitting every high note. It is running a marathon. It is being Beyonce. And it is all of those things at the same time.

I am obsessed with people that are obsessed with what they do.

My life is my music, so how can I stop? I put 100 percent into my career. I keep this flow going, and that's important.

I like having a studio to go to. It's like having a job.

I have my own studio. I'm in it all the time.

I don't drink or party. There's literally no time for that. As soon as I finish a show, I go straight back to the hotel room, do emails, I sleep, that's it.

I think that was one of my biggest worries. I didn't want to be so focused on soccer that it became my whole life.

I once asked a distinguished artist what place he gave to labor in art. "Labor," he in effect said, "is the beginning, the middle, and the end of art." Turning then to another--"And you," I inquired, "what do you consider as the great force in art?" "Love," he replied. In their two answers I found but one truth.

I think if you're inspired, you don't let a little thing like scheduling and deadlines get in your way.

Write even when the world is chaotic. You don’t need a cigarette, silence, music, a comfortable chair, or inner peace to write. You just need ten minutes and a writing implement.

Discipline is the servant of inspiration.

Find the passion. It takes great passion and great energy to do anything creative. I would go so far as to say you can't do it without that passion.

No matter how busy I am, I find time for dance.

My advice is: if you've got to be miserable to write great music, then drive a truck.

Whenever I've directed something, there's this feeling of demand and focus that I like.