Jesse Tyler Ferguson Quotes

Comfort is the enemy of the artist.

What drives me is to still feel creative and like I'm pushing myself as an artist.

I don't know which way I'm going. My next CD might be country, might be Dylan, might be Mick Jagger. I don't know. I love a challenge.

I feel like every time I take on a movie, it's important that the possibility of failure exists, and of the unknown, because it's a challenge to do something I haven't done before and something I have to try to work out.

Part of your job as an artist is to push yourself and make sure your creative juices are flowing.

The ultimate point of a piece for me is that it drives the next one. Does it open new doors? That's the success of a piece.

I think actors get too comfortable. I like being uncomfortable as an actor because it keeps you alive. I don't know, I think it's important.

You've gotta dive into the abyss if you wanna get anything good. Every record, you've gotta go down in the abyss and hope that you come out of it alive.

I got a chance to work with Miles Davis, and that changed everything for me, 'cause Miles really encouraged all his musicians to reach beyond what they know, go into unknown territory and explore. It's made a difference to me and the decisions that I've made over the years about how to approach a project in this music.

The worst thing you can do as an artist is to repeat yourself.

What an artist learns matters little. What he himself discovers has a real worth for him, and gives him the necessary incitement to work.

If you ever have a kid who doesn't know what to do, stick him in art school. It's amazing what evolves.

As an artist, you never want to write the same song again, you always want to challenge yourself to writing in a different way.

Every time I do a project, it always comes with a level of discomfort and not knowing how to do it.

We wanted to establish a new fan base over here. And second, we wanted to challenge ourselves. We wanted to bring what is ostensibly new music to fresh ears and see what lights them up.

Working with Prince, it's kind of like he's opened up this whole new world, especially with the horn players. And I'm like, 'Man, only if I had strings on this album, too.' And I'm like, 'I wish I had an orchestra.' So I just, you know - I just wonder what's next, you know. I just want to constantly push myself for more.

When I start a picture, I always have a script, but I change it every day. I put in what occurs to me that day out of my imagination. You start on a voyage; you know where you will end up but not what will occur along the way. You want to be surprised.

For me to take a role, I read a script, and I think, 'Wow, I don't know how I'm going to do this, but I want to try.'

You have to be slightly uncomfortable with what you're doing, and you have to be able to try to find moments of newness.

The familiar can feel good - especially with so much uncertainty when we turn on the news. But it doesn't uplift us, challenge us, or inspire anew as truly original work can.

Each day I record I'm always doing something different that I've never done. So I feel like I'm a new artist every time I go to the studio.

You never know what you're going to learn from which pieces and which composers and colleagues are going to influence that thing you think you know.

My absolutely favorite time of working on a project is the time I spend not knowing what it is. Because the longer you live inside that period, the likelier you are to discover something new.

You tend to find the best in yourself as an artist when you're challenged.

As an artist, you tend to gravitate to the opposite. I know, when I finish a song or an album, I'm interested in doing something completely new. It doesn't always happen, but that's the idea. My poor fans - I don't know if they love that or hate that.