Alan Dean Foster Quotes

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

In a society that tries to standardize thinking, individuality is not highly prized.

I think most people don't like others who, without a voice of their own, emulate the other. I certainly don't want anybody just to pick up my thoughts and hand them back to me.

As far as things I avoid, I always avoid following trends just because they're trends.

If you think about what everyone else will think, you forget to just make music.

I think, as an artist, part of your job is being aware of what's going on around you and not selling out and not following the trend, which I'm totally against.

I've never really tried to copy anyone; I like to have my own style.

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.

It doesn't really matter to me what the rest of country is doing. I'm not caught up in trying to make a record that sounds like everybody else. That, to me, is a record label's absolute biggest downfall.

I couldn't imitate anyone if I wanted to.

I don't want to get myself in trouble - and I don't think I'm super important or anything - but I think it's so funny that when you look at the business and the way that people make decisions in their lives, whether they're in art or music or they're in industry, they forget that being unique is the answer.

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

I can't think of anything worse, really, than to try to live up to someone else's expectations of what you should be. You don't make art by consensus.

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

Don't try to guess what it is people want and give it to them. Don't ask for a show of hands. Try your best to write what you like, what you think your friends would like and what you think your father would like and then cross your fingers... The most valuable thing you have is your own voice.

Trends are dangerous; you will fail if you design for them. You cannot follow the work of others. I have my own DNA, my own formula. I always stay true to myself and to the brand.

They're never gonna not put you in a box. It's something that they have to do, because nine times out of 10 people don't understand creativity.

I don't feel pressure to act like other people or rap like other people, because I just can't.

I want to stay away from trends and do what we want to do musically.

I don't want to be anyone's mimic.

You can filter certain stuff - it depends what artist you are - but you're never going to be true to yourself if you're worried about what other people think.

We don't follow trends; I don't think we even set trends. We just do our own thing. We just do what we love. That's why Arch Enemy sounds like that.

It's funny: I rarely reference anything, and I'm one of those people that doesn't really spend much time in other people's worlds. I just try and create my own and make it as distinctive as I can.

With technology, everything is available at the touch of a button. But I'm not someone whose world revolves around trends. I like to be unique in whatever I do.

It's a shame to waste [the uniqueness that is you], by doing what someone else has done.