Quotes About Artistry

Attempting to write vocal oriented songs to me felt like going through the motions and if you are going to go through the motions you might as well just do any gig that caused you to do repetitive motions like banging a hammer or serving fries.

I heard some stuff recently from Julian Casablancas, and his solo stuff is amazing. If I could write with anyone, it would be him.

I'm by no means a pianist. I think that's safe to say, but the piano, for me, I would say it's the enabler. It gave me what I needed and gives me what I need in order to write a song. And I think playing or improvising on the piano is where I feel most liberated and sort of less conscious of all my insecurities or inadequacies.

The best author will be the one who is ashamed to become a writer.

A writer without a pen would be like a duck without water!

I am not a consecutive writer.

I am hoping that I can be known as a great writer and actor some day, rather than a sex symbol.

A writer is not a confectioner, a cosmetic dealer, or an entertainer.

If I have any regrets, I could say that I'm sorry I wasn't a better writer or a better singer.

There are actors who can pull of a writer's lines; I am not competent enough to do that.

A writer wants something more than money for his work: he wants permanence.

Some critics will write 'Maya Angelou is a natural writer' - which is right after being a natural heart surgeon.

The day when I am no more than a writer I shall cease to be a writer.

I think you get most of the most interesting work done in fields where people don't think they're doing art but are merely practicing a craft and working as good craftsmen. Being literate as a writer is good craft, is knowing your job, is knowing how to use your tools properly and not to damage the tools as you use them.

One of the things you do as a writer and as a filmmaker is grasp for resonant symbols and imagery without necessarily fully understanding it yourself.

As a writer no one's gonna tell me how to write, I'm gonna write the way I wanna write!

I started out as a writer and a director. I started acting because I wanted to know how to relate to the actors. When people ask me what I do, I don't really say that I'm an actor, because actors often wait for someone to give them roles.

I was never a quick writer, but composed with great care and efforts.

The writer presents himself to the blank page not with an open passport but an open heart.

Style is that which indicates how the writer takes himself and what he is saying. It is the mind skating circles around itself as it moves forward.

I play a lot of instruments. I write all my own music. I spend hours and hours a day in the studio. I'm a producer. I'm a writer.

That is how you get to be a writer, incidentally: you feel somehow marginal, somehow slightly off-balance all the time.

The task of a writer consists of being able to make something out of an idea.

A singer can quit once he or she has made ten great songs; a director can finish once he or she has made five amazing films; a writer just needs to write three great books.