Inspirational Quotes
Words to motivate, inspire, and guide you.
Neil Gaiman Quotes
AmbitionArtistic ExpressionCreativityMultidisciplinary I want to write a play. I'd like to do an original musical. I should probably put together a poetry collection.
AuthenticityCourageGrowthHumilitySelf-awareness The moment that you feel that just possibly you are walking down the street naked... that's the moment you may be starting to get it right.
Child DevelopmentEducationLearningLiteracyReading The simplest way to make sure that we raise literate children is to teach them to read, and to show them that reading is a pleasurable activity.
CreativityEditingLiterary TechniquesVoice in LiteratureWriting Process I'll agonize over sentences. Mostly because you're trying to create specific effects with sentences, and because there are a number of different voices in the book.
AwarenessBeekeepingCarbon FootprintEnvironmental ResponsibilitySustainability I wish being a beekeeper, which I am, gave you a free pass on the carbon footprint, but it doesn't.
HumilityPerfectionismSelf-CriticismSelf-ImprovementSelf Reflection I don't know if proud is the right word, but I am somebody who does not, on the whole, have the highest regard for my own stuff in that when I look all I get to see are the flaws.
AchievementCreativityInnovationJoy The world always seems brighter when you've just made something that wasn't there before.
AmbitionAptitudeSuccess I've known ambitious people with no aptitude for the thing they did. Most of whom, rather terrifyingly, tended to succeed.
Consumer PerceptionFood and TasteFood IndustryHumor and IronySensory Experience Is the chemical aftertaste the reason why people eat hot dogs, or is it some kind of bonus?
AchievementCreativityFreedomInnovationPersistence The joy of doing 'Sandman' was doing a comic and telling people, 'No, it has an end,' at a time when nobody thought you could actually get to the end and stop doing a comic that people were still buying just because you'd finished.
ImaginationLife S UnpredictabilityPerceptionRealityTruth Life is always going to be stranger than fiction, because fiction has to be convincing, and life doesn't.
CuriosityGrowthIndependenceLearningPerseverance As a kid, I would get my parents to drop me off at my local library on their way to work during the summer holidays, and I would walk home at night. For several years, I read the children's library until I finished the children's library. Then I moved into the adult library and slowly worked my way through them.
Complexity of IdentityHuman NatureInner WorldMysteryPerception I've never known anyone who was what he or she seemed; or at least, was only what he or she seemed. People carry worlds within them.
CreativityEvolutionExpressionHumorPersistence I've been blogging since February of 2001. When I started blogging, it was a dinosaur blog. It was me and a handful of tyrannosaurs. We'd be writing blog entries like, 'The tyrannosaurus is getting grumpy.'
ChildhoodFamilyFearGrowthHelplessness In the case of 'Ocean at the End of the Lane,' it's a book about helplessness. It's a book about family, it's a book about being 7 in a world of people who are bigger than you, and more dangerous, and stepping into territory that you don't entirely understand.
CensorshipExpressionFreedom of SpeechMediaPolitics A nice, easy place for freedom of speech to be eroded is comics, because comics are a natural target whenever an election comes up.
CreativityFocusSelf-DiscoverySolitudeStress Relief Going off the grid is always good for me. It's the way that I've started books and finished books and gotten myself out of deadline dooms and things.
ComparisonEntertainmentFameLifestyleTravel Rock and roll stars have it much better than writers when they're on a tour.
Comfort ZoneCreativityIntroversionObservationSocial Dynamics It's not a bad thing for a writer not to feel at home. Writers - we're much more comfortable at parties standing in the corner watching everybody else having a good time than we are mingling.
AestheticsAuthenticityCultural ChangeLiteraturePerception of Quality I had started to feel that somewhere in the second half of the 20th century, the idea of page-turning as a good thing had been lost. You were getting books that were the equivalent of absolutely beautifully prepared dishes of food that didn't taste like anything much.
DiscoveryGrowthHumilityIndependencePerseverance When I started out, there were a lot of things I knew I couldn't do, and a lot of things I only found out I couldn't do by going and doing it. And no-one was watching, and nobody cared.
CreativityExplorationImaginationJourneyPerspective Short stories are tiny windows into other worlds and other minds and dreams. They are journeys you can make to the far side of the universe and still be back in time for dinner.
ChangeCourageGrowthInnovationLearning I hope that in this year to come, you make mistakes. Because if you are making mistakes, then you are making new things, trying new things, learning, living, pushing yourself, changing yourself, changing your world. You're doing things you've never done before, and more importantly, you're doing something.
CreativityImaginationInnovationScience FictionWriting I started out writing much more science fictiony stuff and writing about science fiction.
CreativityGenerational ChangeLiteraturePerseveranceResilience Like some kind of particularly tenacious vampire the short story refuses to die, and seems at this point in time to be a wonderful length for our generation.
AuthenticityCreativityFreedomHonestySelf-Expression Write your story as it needs to be written. Write it honestly, and tell it as best you can. I'm not sure that there are any other rules. Not ones that matter.