Buddy Rich Quotes

I just like doing things from my own head.

Everything I've performed has been from my own head.

A scientist, an artist, a citizen is not like a child who needs papa methodology and mama rationality to give him security and direction, he can take care of himself, for he is the inventor not only of laws, theories, pictures, plays, forms of music, ways of dealing with his fellow man, institutions, but also entire world view, he is the inventor of entire forms of like.

If you're waiting for encouragement from others, you're doing it wrong. By the time people think an idea is good, it's probably too late.

I get a kick out of being an outsider constantly. It allows me to be creative.

Students must have initiative; they should not be mere imitators. They must learn to think and act for themselves - and be free.

I never look at other people's work. My mind has to be completely focused on my own illusions.

Do what is right... do it with honesty and vigor. Be creative - that's important. Don't follow what other people are doing.

I quickly realized I had to have my own style and strategy and find my own way.

I never follow anybody's path, what they've done.

I don't like following in people's footsteps; I like making my own trail.

I have been inspired by countless artists over the years, but there's also times when you just gotta make your own inspiration.

It is a poor wit who lives by borrowing the words, decisions, mien, inventions and actions of others.

We grow up thinking that the best answer is in someone else's brain. Much of our education is an elaborate game of 'guess what's in the teacher's head?' What the world really needs to know right now is what kind of dreams and ideas are in your head.

Genius is inconsiderate, self-relying, and, like unconscious beauty, without any intention to please.

Solitude is an unavoidable part of creativity. Self-reliance is a happy by-product.

Men have been taught that it is a virtue to agree with others. But the creator is the man who disagrees. Men have been taught that it is a virtue to swim with the current. But the creator is the man who goes against the current. Men have been taught that it is a virtue to stand together. But the creator is the man who stands alone.

I always took a great deal of pride in being original.

To the extent that independent means you're willing to attempt to put your own ideas, personality, and commitment to the material on screen, then of course I hope I'm independent until the day I die.

I don't have any influences, any heroes, it's just me.

I never think about what others are doing. I do a film for myself, not others.

What another would have done as well as you, do not do it. What another would have said as well as you, do not say it; what another would have written as well, do not write it. Be faithful to that which exists nowhere but in yourself-and thus make yourself indispensable.

Doing it your own way, not having to go exactly by the book to be successful.

Forget about trying to compete with someone else. Create your own pathway. Create your own new vision.

No age is compelled to take its beauty from preceding epochs.