Desmond Dekker Quotes

When I try to write I try to write something different every time. That's the challenge.

I'm inspired by almost everything I come across in life, and one way or another they find themselves sneaking into my stories.

I read, I watch a lot of movies, I'm constantly living, so I'm constantly having more to say.

I think writers are observers and watchers. We always have our ears open and eyes open, so I might see something in everyday life that inspires me. And I think that's probably more than anything else. Everyday life is where I get my inspiration.

I've always really enjoyed writing different things because I get bored very easily.

Back when I taught middle school and wrote adult mysteries, my students often asked me why I wasn't writing for kids. I never had a good answer for them. It took me a long time to realize they were right.

Taking time to sit back and watch and think about what you've seen is important. Traveling did a great deal to me. I found that when I travel and just sit in the corner and watch, a million ideas come to me.

The coming of the kids hasn't come out in my art yet.

Whenever I start a new book, I think, 'This is the most interesting subject of all time. It's sad, I'll never enjoy writing another book as much as I enjoy this one.' Every time, I'm convinced. And then I change my mind when I start the next book.

I think it's very important for writers and artists generally to be witnesses to the world, and to be transparent. To let other people speak... to travel... to experience the world. And memorialize it.

I try and make little stories. Whether it's with a pencil or with bits of records, it's really the same thing.

The key to songwriting is just to be able to observe, and put yourself in situations to be around people, and let those ideas come to you.

I like change, like anybody. You don't want to keep doing the same thing because then it gets harder to take chances, be creative, and feel inspired when you're doing the same thing.

I enjoy looking beyond the obvious and look at the stories happening all around me - you kind of formulate things in your mind and get excited about them.

I've been a traveller, but I don't travel so much now. I'm trying to do it vicariously through my writing. I'm trying to write books that will draw readers away from their lives but send them back in a more awakened way.

The most important thing is to live an interesting life. Keep your eyes, ears and heart open. Talk to people and visit interesting places, and don't forget to ask questions. To be a writer you need to drink in the world around you so it's always there in your head.

All the things worth writing about are outside me. I'm a lens, not a source. And even if it's not always a comfortable journey, it's always a stimulating one.

The possibilities are infinite with new writing; every time you open a new script, there's no limit to what it might contain.

Directing is so interesting. You know, it just sort of encompasses everything that you see, that you know, that you've felt, that you have observed.

Read a lot, live your life, and listen and watch, so that your mind fills up with millions of images.

I see things with my own eyes, just as if they were the first eyes that ever saw, and then I set about to tell, as best I can, just what I've seen.

You don't have to go fight bulls in Spain like Hemingway to write something great, or go off to war. It's right under your nose.

Of course you bank on your experience, but as a sounding board. It isn't that you write down what happens to you every day. You wouldn't be a writer if you did that.

I write and I read, and I write and read my way into and out of ideas and life. And that's what we do. That's what storytellers do.

For me, the best moments in storytelling are the ones where I feel I'm discovering something.