Nicolas Winding Refn Quotes

The key to artistry is being able to say stuff the way other people can't.

Creative instinct is personal.

Not to be boxed in, to be able to transcend boundaries: for an artist, it's essential.

When you're an artist, all you're trying to do is self-express.

I think the idea of art kills creativity.

Creativity is the greatest expression of liberty.

Rules and models destroy genius and art.

It's so important to me that I feel like I'm doing something that's never been done before, whether that's in the show, or I'm writing a song. I can exist in this little box here, but I have to do something new with it.

I just want to be able to be creative.

Do not quench your inspiration and your imagination; do not become the slave of your model.

I care about being creative and expressing myself.

I am a creative person.

I just like being creative, whatever way I have to do it.

If you're not allowed to experiment anymore for fear of being considered self-indulgent or pretentious or what have you, then everyone's going to just stick to the rules - there's not going to be any additional ideas.

Draw a line; draw a line that pleases you. And remember that it is not the artist's role to copy the outlines of things but to create a world of his own lines on paper." (pp.28-29)

A creative person has to be alive. He can't borrow from things he's done in the past. He can't let his method choose his subjects or his characters. They can't be warped to fit his style.

When the artist is alive in any person, whatever his kind of work may be, he becomes an inventive, searching, daring, self-expressing creature.

I mean, what do you think creativity is? Nothing but self-indulgence. And the more self-indulgent it is, the more interesting it becomes. So I think that part of creativity is also falling in love with your own narcissism: accepting it, using it as an asset.

The downside of videos is that it will put my vision in front of other people, so they might not get the chance to create their own.

I don't want ever to be guilty of what my critics claim: doing formula without original elements.

Be brave enough to live life creatively. The creative place where no one else has ever been.

In art, anything goes, and if it goes, it goes.

The freedom of every artist is essential.

A truly creative person rids him or herself of all self-imposed limitations.

To be able to create fully, it's maybe fine that you learn the rules, but you have to forget and to rebel against those rules.