Richard Lewis Quotes

It is difficult to write about any form of mental disease, especially your own, without sounding as if you were examining a bug under glass.

I'm a fairly tormented artist, and I'm less willing to indulge myself in self-pity, outside of songwriting.

Seeing what happens when you rip yourself open is what your job is all about.

I used to say it was painful to write lyrics about myself and looking inward.

Your art is most alive and dangerous when you use it against yourself. That's why I pick at my scabs.

I've always internalized things.

Why am I so soft in the middle when the rest of my life is so hard?

There are parts of me that I keep secret even from myself. I have demons and I'd love to be able to healthily look at the demons and still be a wonderful actor and not feel I need them to create.

Acting is a masochistic form of exhibitionism. It is not quite the occupation of an adult.

I'm not one of those guys that has a great worldview. I kind of deal with terror and fear and isolation and abandonment.

It's hard to talk about yourself.

It's not comfortable for me to write about my family. I'm not comfortable writing about me.

If you don't deal with your demons, they will deal with you, and it's gonna hurt.

It's hard listening to myself.

I enjoy playing characters who are struggling, particularly with themselves.

Everyone has something that they carry always, even if it's just as simple as, 'I hate myself.' Everyone's got a different thing.

I think I do overshare. It's my way of trying to understand myself.

There's a beautiful, kind of seductive trap in being autobiographical in our writing of songs: We just get stuck in our own syrup, and it's so personal that it almost can be embarrassing to the listener.

I don't think any one relationship in my life has wrecked me. I think I am a collection of wrecks.

I mean, my stand-up is very honest and exposing in this way. I probably carry that into everything I do.

I'm not really that comfortable, to be honest, singing about my darkest moments.

The most confronting thing you can do is talk about your feelings and open yourself up.

You can't escape from yourself, can you?

We all - if we are honest with ourselves, we all have these dark spaces within our souls that we don't always want to talk about or acknowledge.

I do believe you're only as sick as your secrets.