Leonard Cohen Quotes

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

Just trying to be different - when I hear something - I don't like to go trampling on other people's sounds.

There's a large opportunity for Bon Iver to be a special thing, even from a business standpoint - just trying to do cooler things. Every band sells t-shirts and plays certain auditoriums, but I'm sick of being like everyone else, because I'm not.

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.

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

It does not matter how badly you paint so long as you don't paint badly like other people.

I wanted each of my books to be very different from the others, each to be special and uncategorizable, and I knew I could only do that a few times before I was in danger of repeating myself.

I think the key to great art and great artists is to just fully be yourself and not be scared of that, and be the extremes of your personality. Show the extremes of your personality and embrace the imperfections. Embrace the things about yourself that you might not like.

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

Different is better. I get more jobs being different.

Every song, every form of art, clothing, shoes, it has to be special.

The minute you succumb to outside pressure, you cease to be creative.

I'm into emulation, not imitation.

As long as you're true to you, you believe it and you make others believe it, then what you're doing is just art. If you give everybody a blank canvas and some paint, not everybody's picture is going to be exactly the same, but it's still art. I just do what I do.

It is always possible to create something original.

Graphic design is the paradise of individuality, eccentricity, heresy, abnormality, hobbies and humors.

People don't want just vanilla. They want 31 flavors. I couldn't do what Rihanna does. I couldn't do what Gaga does. They can't do what I do.

The merit of originality is not novelty; it is sincerity.

All the power to them but I'm not interested in making yet another show that looks like some other show.

I wanted to make my sophomore film as different as possible. I didn't want to be pigeonholed. I didn't want to be identifiable.

I love when people have their own creative vision, when a person stands out and tries different things.

I'm always trying to find something unique or a project that I can do something unique in.

I made the tenor sax - there's nobody plays like me and I don't play like anybody else.

A lot of people forget how important it is to be creative. We get caught up in getting ahead and in day-to-day minutiae. But creativity is a fundamental mode of expression, as is being tenacious and standing by your own convictions and passions, even if it's not the 'popular' choice.

My early experiences in animation taught me that following someone else is not a great idea.