Alex Turner Quotes

Painting is self-discovery. Every good artist paints what he is.

You are meant to understand the nature of your inner self, and to manifest it outward.

All my songs are where I am.

A lyric has to mean something to me, something that has happened to me.

My act has always reflected what's going on in my life.

Human identity is the most fragile thing that we have, and it's often only found in moments of truth.

In the process of telling the truth about what you feel or what you see, each of us has to get in touch with himself or herself in a really deep, serious way.

Knowing yourself and expressing it is hip. I think knowing yourself is the real journey, for me anyway.

The writer needs to react to his or her own internal universe, to his or her own point of view. If he or she doesn't have a personal point of view, it's impossible to be a creator.

I can't play anything until I find something that connects to my life, something I can carry as my secret map or code for the character.

Art, in the first place, has to connect with yourself.

You can't intellectually purge yourself of who you are. Whatever that is, it's going to come out in the wash, the film wash. What you are is going to be relevant, if not to yourself, to the movies you make.

Great art is the outward expression of an inner life in the artist, and this inner life will result in his personal vision of the world.

Everyone thinks these are self-portraits but they aren't meant to be. I just use myself as a model because I know I can push myself to extremes, make each shot as ugly or goofy or silly as possible.

I wrote songs when I was little, and I wrote a journal, but I don't think I knew how to let that truth come out yet.

I read a quote to the effect that we are always writing about ourselves no matter what we're doing. That may be so.

I'm not really interested in myself in my writing. I can't see myself in the songs, even though I know different parts of me are there.

The creative process has been a little bit of an experience, really - to try and make that work for me. The only way I know how to do that is just to remain genuine, humble, and true to everything I know already in my life.

I think 'Lost Boy' is more of a metaphor for oneself. When I listen to that song, I don't picture someone else. I kind of wrote it from a very honest place.

You can spend time self-identifying and figuring out what you are on that, but at some point, you just want to be who you are and not walk around telling people.

All good work requires self-revelation.

When we are self-conscious, we cannot be wholly aware; we must throw ourselves out first. This throwing ourselves away is the act of creativity.

Painting myself for others, I have painted my inward self with colors clearer than my original ones. I have no more made my book than my book has made me--a book consubstantial with its author, concerned with my own self, an integral part of my life; not concerned with some third-hand, extraneous purpose, like all other books.

You must write for yourself, above all. That is your only hope of creating something beautiful.

It's important to be yourself. What art does for everyone, helps you understand yourself and in a distilled way, whether it's a painting or a scene in acting or a joke. It distills something about everyday life that can be important to you.