I'll tell you this: You have to remember to chase and catch your

“I’ll tell you this: You have to remember to chase and catch your dreams, because if you don’t, your imagination will live in empty spaces, and that’s nowhere land.” Thus spoke Gary Busey, a man known not merely for his art, but for the wild fire of his spirit—a flame both unpredictable and profound. In this saying, behind the rough-hewn simplicity of the words, lies a wisdom that echoes through the corridors of all time: that imagination without action becomes emptiness, and dreams unpursued turn to shadows. For imagination is not given to us as an idle ornament, but as a compass pointing toward the life we are meant to create. If we do not follow where it leads, our souls become like abandoned houses—filled with echoes, but no light.

The origin of these words lies in the tumultuous journey of Busey’s own life. He, who rose from humble beginnings to the peaks of fame, knew both the ecstasy of achievement and the darkness of loss. After a near-fatal motorcycle accident that shattered his body and nearly claimed his life, Busey found himself confronting the meaning of existence. Out of that crucible of pain came a deeper clarity: that imagination is not meant to drift unanchored—it must be seized, shaped, and lived. In this quote, he warns us against allowing our inner visions to stagnate. For if we do not act upon our dreams, the very power that could have given our lives meaning turns inward and decays.

To the ancients, this truth was no less sacred. They spoke of eros, the divine longing that moves both gods and men to create. Plato called it the fire that drives the soul to ascend toward beauty; the poets called it inspiration, the breath of the divine. But every fire must be tended, every dream pursued, or it flickers and dies. The empty spaces Busey speaks of are the wastelands of forgotten desire—the places where courage failed and the imagination, once vibrant, grew cold. To dream is human; to chase the dream is divine. Those who do not chase remain wanderers in “nowhere land,” dwelling between what might have been and what never will be.

Consider the story of Amelia Earhart, who dared to dream of flying across oceans when the sky itself was still a frontier. Her imagination was not content to live in books or idle conversation—it demanded action, flight, and risk. She could have remained safe, grounded by the expectations of her age, but she refused to let her dreams dissolve into “empty spaces.” Though her final journey ended in mystery, her legacy endures, a testament to the truth that it is better to risk failure in pursuit of a vision than to live untouched by the flame of imagination. Her life teaches us that nowhere land is not the place of the lost, but of those who never dared to set out.

In every generation, there are those who drift and those who dare. The drifters speak endlessly of what they could have done; their imaginations echo hollowly within them, unspent. But those who dare—the builders, the dreamers, the visionaries—they chase and catch their dreams, and in doing so, they shape the world. The painter who picks up the brush, the scientist who tests the impossible, the lover who speaks the unspoken truth—all of them wrestle with their imagination and give it form. The difference between emptiness and creation is not genius, but action.

O children of tomorrow, remember this: dreams are living things. They must be fed with courage, watered with effort, and harvested through perseverance. If you neglect them, they will wither within you; if you chase them, they will transform you. The act of pursuit is itself sacred—it stirs the heart, awakens the will, and unites imagination with purpose. Even if you stumble, even if you fail, you will have lived among stars, not shadows. For there is no greater sorrow than to reach the end of your days and realize that your dreams died not because they were impossible, but because you never gave them a chance to live.

Therefore, let this be your lesson: do not let your imagination dwell in empty spaces. When a vision stirs within you—no matter how strange or far-fetched—follow it. Begin. Move. Build. The world is not changed by the dreamer who waits, but by the dreamer who acts. Do not fear the vastness of your nowhere land; it is waiting to become your kingdom. For when you chase and catch your dreams, you turn emptiness into creation, silence into song, and life itself into a radiant work of art. And in that moment, like Gary Busey after the storm of his trials, you, too, will know what it means to live fully awake—to have captured your imagination before it slipped into the darkness of unfulfilled potential.