Ben Johnson

Ageing’s alright, better than the alternative, which is not being here.

It is the mind that makes good or ill. That which makes us happy or sad; rich or poor.

Not only can you not plan the impact you’re going to have, you often won’t recognize it when you’re having it.

To be nobody but yourself in a world which is doing its best, night and day, to make you everybody else means to fight the hardest battle which any human being can fight; and never stop fighting.

I had learned one of the bitter lessons of life: never try to regain the past, the fire will have become ashes.

In the real world, nothing happens at the right place at the right time. It is the job of journalists and historians to correct that.

If you can find a way to be truly ambivalent about what people think about you as an artist you’re completely freed up because you just end up doing things that turn you on creatively, and then as a person you really try and drown the noise.

Try not to become a person of success, but rather try to become a person of value.

I don’t believe in killing whatever the reason!

In a mad world, only the mad are sane.

I don’t let go of concepts – I meet them with understanding. Then they let go of me.

Pain is the price you pay for resisting life.

“You should know our mania for building is stronger than ever. It is a diabolical thing. It consumes money and the more you build, the more you want to build. It’s a sickness like being addicted to alcohol.

A successful man is one who can lay a firm foundation with the bricks others have thrown at him.

If you wish to clear away the clouds of thought, simply keep your mind in the present.