Nicolas Winding Refn Quotes

Fashion is an imposition, a reign on freedom.

I was never a skilled artist or anything like that - never a rebel.

Now, in music, it seems more like the popular crowd suppresses anyone who is different.

Art is permitted to survive only if it renounces the right to be different.

Someone was always trying to put down my individuality and personality, making me sing Mozart arias that were nothing to do with me.

Good taste is better than bad taste, but bad taste is better than no taste.

Every story is different, so what is a detail in one might not be in something else. Diversity is something I embrace and love about my work.

Society is based on the assumption that everyone is alike and no one is alive.

I've always done everything at my disposal to avoid labeling what I do, or to avoid being labeled myself.

The greatness of art is not to find what is common but what is unique.

Originality is the one thing which unoriginal minds cannot feel the use of.

We have the universe to roam in in imagination. It is our virtue to be infinitely varied. The worst tyranny is uniformity.

Fashion isn't interesting when it comes from an uninspired place.

He who goes against the fashion is himself its slave.

Fear, conformity, immorality: these are heavy burdens. They drain us of creative energy. And when we are drained of creative energy, we do not create. We procreate, but we do not create.

They change. They're different. There are no two alike, that's the miracle of it. But if they have something to teach the students. You can see them writing during the show.

One thing that is exciting about fashion is the surprise element. People don't know what they want. They just know when they see it.

There are no original ideas. There are only original people.

I am against the notion of style in itself.

Everything I do has a certain quality, a certain flair, a certain flavor. I like to eat the way I like to dress, the way I listen to music: put it all together, and it's a great party.

I didn't care too much for ballet, because you had to be more disciplined, and you sort of looked like everyone else. It required a certain kind of conformity that I didn't feel like I wanted to do.

Unless you hit your television with a sledgehammer, you're not going to be able to be an individual.

Labels don't really impress, it's the uniqueness and risk in decor that inspire.

Life is like a box of crayons. Most people are the 8-color boxes, but what you're really looking for are the 64-color boxes with the sharpeners on the back. I fancy myself to be a 64-color box, though I've got a few missing.

Every child dances, and then you learn not to.