Yorgos Lanthimos Quotes

There are no original ideas. There are only original people.

Don't just rehash what came before. Find new things to do with it, in your unique voice.

I like to reinvent with each project, in any which way possible.

I always imagine, and try to be on the lookout, for new things, for references that can inspire me creatively so I can showcase things that people haven't done before or that are new.

You have to be as original as possible. It's a tough thing to come up with something totally original.

One must not imitate what one wants to create.

There is no subject so old that something new cannot be said about it.

Originality is simply a pair of fresh eyes.

It's so important to me that I feel like I'm doing something that's never been done before, whether that's in the show, or I'm writing a song. I can exist in this little box here, but I have to do something new with it.

Artists rarely do the same thing over and over again. Art is about the new, doing things in a new way.

A lot of people get really stuck in this idea that everything's been done and there's nowhere left to go.

Imagination should always be treasured, even when it's slightly off-key.

I don't want to come in and do something that's been done before. You know, for me, it's not that I wouldn't come in and do a sequel to something, but it's only if I can bring something new to the table and I'm not following an extremely strict path.

I think rappers spend a lot of time trying to figure out what is new. 'How can I say this in a way that no one has ever said it before?'

It's hard to find things that haven't been said before or drawn before, but I'm trying.

I've always tried to do things a little bit before they were being done by the mainstream. I challenge myself to do that in stand-up also, to talk about things that I'm not hearing anybody talk about onstage and in the media.

Creativity often consists of merely turning up what is already there.

Only the mind that has emptied itself of the known is creative. That is creation. What it creates has nothing to do with it. Freedom from the known is the state of a mind that is in creation.

Creativity requires quite a lot of faith - not just in yourself but also in the knowledge that you have the right to proceed, even when you may not know exactly what you're doing.

If your mind is at work, we're in danger of reproducing another cliche. If we can keep our minds out of it and our thoughts out of it, maybe we'll come up with something original.

Originality is really important.

I really like it when you can step outside of what's come before and find a surprise for the reader and find a surprise for yourself.

I want to do everything I can possibly do to step outside the box.

Hip-hop can be limiting and I refuse to accept limits.

Make something new, and define territory that's never been. I fall in love with shows because I've never see that before. I fall in love with new vocabularies.