Roddy McDowall Quotes

It keeps me moving when I see people doing stuff that I see as "my" direction. I think, "Oh, it's been tainted. Now I've got to do something new." There's nothing worse than working on your own stuff and thinking that someone else is following you along.

As for me, the only stuff I've ever had success with is when I'm trying to be completely original and not thinking about mirroring what else is out there.

There's so many people out there who try to imitate what I do but I am the original.

There were times in my career when I would try to write songs like Bob Dylan... Artists get hooked up in that. To be a follower, you lose.

I have less than no interest in trying to replicate another brilliant actor's work, thank you very much.

I feel like when I try to fit in, it comes across as not genuine, and that is not good. I'd rather just do me and have people say, 'Oh. That's interesting,' than try to fit in.

I think that, as artists, all we can do is be who we are. I think that if we do that, then we're automatically not anyone else.

The moment you start thinking about what other people and other artists think, you're going to start writing like other people.

In terms of my actual acting, I don't really like to to copy anyone or replicate anything that I've seen.

Being in somebody else's thing and saying their words and not having any right to change it - I don't know how I'd deal with that. I'd like to think I could do it, but I just know I've got a dead particular taste.

Do not be awe struck by other people and try to copy them. Nobody can be you as efficiently as you can.

I didn't sit down and work out other people's material; I've never believed in that.

I never wanted the temptation to imitate or emulate something that had been done beforehand.

I really appreciate people who have their own thing going on and stick to it - super authentic. The people who wear something and you're just like "oh, it looks so good!" it's because it's them. They're not trying to be anything.

A lot of people go, "I'm influenced by the Beatles and Zeppelin," and they just sound like a karaoke.

Be yourself. Because if people don't like you as you are, they're not going to like you as somebody you're trying to be.

You can't try to be somebody you're not; that's not style.

I don't think I'm very much like anyone else, really. I'm sure there are aspects of other actors that I share, but I don't see anybody else and go, "Damn, they stole my thing." I'm me, and I like that there are people who have an appreciation for that.

Go and see what others have produced, but never copy anything except nature. You would be trying to enter into a temperament that is not yours and nothing that you would do would have any character.

Are you copying others? People won't pay extra for that. You won't be followed for that.

When people say 'I want to be like you', I tell them if you want to be like me, then be yourself.

While everybody is trying to be different, everybody becomes, obviously, the same, so it's finding what makes you special and then kind of sharing it with the world; it's what makes you a superstar.

I think the beauty of the film industry is that if another person tries to become another person or act like another person or imitate another person, they don't really get too far. When that person starts to realize who they are and what they can bring to the table, they start to blossom and grow. With that, it's not so much me looking towards my predecessors who have paved the way in the industry - it's more getting inspired. I get little bits and pieces of what I can take from any and everybody.

Everyone tries to look a cookie-cutter kind of way, and actually the people who look different are the ones who get picked up.

If someone asks me what inspires me, I always say, "That which is missing," because I don't want to copy everything that's already happening. I feel like when you copy, you blend in, and when you blend in, you get lost.