Milan Kundera Quotes

When a man ain't got no ideas of his own, he'd ought to be kind o' careful who he borrows 'em from.

I certainly wouldn't want to be a Mini Me of any of the people whose footsteps I've followed in.

Most of us only find our own voices after we've sounded like a lot of other people.

I don't care anymore if people dress like me, now I want them to think like me.

Most people are other people.

I love the idea of people being themselves in films.

I was inspired by lots of people, certainly in acting and in writing and stuff, but I never wanted to be somebody else.

If you do not express your own original ideas, if you do not listen to your own being, you will have betrayed yourself.

I'm trying to have my own thing, and I don't know if it's even possible. I didn't realize so many people actually think I'm trying to be like my dad. I read comments like 'She's no Elvis.' I'm not trying to be. I never set out to be.

There are many teachers who could ruin you. Before you know it you could be a pale copy of this teacher or that teacher. You have to evolve on your own.

If you let society and your peers define who you are, you're the less for it.

Well, so far, at least, my own ideas always take priority over those of other writers. As long as the well doesn't run dry, I imagine this will be the case.

I don't want to be somebody else.

There was no one in particular I really tried to copy.

My father's music was influential. My place is my place. I must be myself and who I am.

When I was hanging out with Joey Clements in Chicago, I made it a point not to try to emulate him. I wanted basically to create my own character. I didn't want him to think I was hanging out with him solely to use him as research.

Mr. Trump is Mr. Trump. I'm Mr. Wilders. I'm not anybody's copy or whatsoever.

We wanted to be ourselves, to sing and speak with our own accent and it was fantastic that we were not asked to change.

There have been comparisons but I don't want to be compared with anyone. I want to be myself, with my own style and identity.

The more you see somebody else's version of something, the harder it is to make it your own.

I don't want to emulate anyone.

Man cannot breathe with borrowed lungs.

There's no reason to assume that my idea of what's better would really be better. I resent it when other people try to inflict their ideas of betterness on me. I don't think they know. And I can't see any authority on the horizon that's got any answers that seem worthwhile. Most of the things that are suggested are probably detrimental to your mental health.

It's tragic how few people ever 'possess their souls' before they die. 'Nothing is more rare in any man', says Emerson, 'than an act of his own.' It is quite true. Most people are other people. Their thoughts are someone else's opinions, their life is a mimicry, their passions a quotation.

I didn't sit down and work out other people's material; I've never believed in that.