Quotes About Artistry

When I began writing stories as a child, I wrote copies of what I read, and in many respects, that is what I've have continued doing, in only a slightly less obvious way. The illusion of artistic freedom is just that, an illusion. No words are "my words"—I merely arrange and use them in a certain way.

When I finish a sentence, after much labor, it's finished. A certain point comes at which you can't do any more work on it because you know it will kill the sentence.

An artist conscientiously moves in a direction which for some good reason he takes, putting one work in front of the other with the hope he'll arrive before death overtakes him.

The artist himself is often surprised at the finished work of art. He cannot tell 'how it happened', nor could he repeat the feat at someone's bidding.

That's how writing works, at least for me: even the stuff that doesn't work out gets funneled into the stuff that does work out.

So, I don't work in terms of real time. I don't work in a timely fashion.

It's really about making the best music you can make. It's really about working hard.

I started being me about the songs, not writing objectively, but subjectively. I think it was Dylan who helped me realize that - not by any discussion or anything, but by hearing his work.

A true work of art can stand many seeings, revealing anew at each seeing.

You may sell your work, but not your soul.

I carry out my work thus: I never use models or nature for the figure, drapery or anything else.

I also met, early on Ella Fitzgerald. Her songbooks are some of the most amazing bodies of work.

I didn't want to just work within Hollywood when I started a production company. I wanted to be able to collaborate with great artists from all over the world.

I just like to do work that inspires me, and I don't pay any attention to whether it's a high- or low-budget movie.

I didn't want it to have any technical virtuosity; I wanted it to just be really clear how it was made. For my work in general, it's always really clear how it is made.

A writer's life is in his work, and that is the place to find him.

A lot of artists don't survive, do they? You work very hard and finally you get what you want and it destroys you.

Many of us believe that 'real artists' do not experience self-doubt. In truth, artists are people who have learned to live with doubt and do the work anyway.

Your mood doesn't really matter. Some of the best creative work gets done on the days when you feel that everything you're doing is just plain junk.

Most artists, ashamed of their need for encouragement, try to carry their work to term like a secret pregnancy.

I never think of myself as an actor who takes work home with them.

The only thing that gets me through any type of pain, emotional or physical, is to make it worthwhile by putting it into my work.

For me my work is always being compared to my heritage. It has been quite a challenge unto itself just to drop into my voice and develop my individuated sound.

Maybe my work looks a little crazy, a little insane, but I don't really see myself as a crazy artist or a shaman artist.