John Ashbery Quotes

As a writer, you rely on whatever makes you up as a person, whether those things are twisted and nasty or otherwise.

One of the most important reasons for living is to do something - live outside of yourself and put together an idea, an idea that you want to explore and then complete... Awaken your creative sensitivities!

Lyrically I like to use themes that make the listener use his or her imagination, and to give a little of the lessons I've learned in my own life.

Genius is the ability to renew one's emotions in daily experience.

Most of my songs aren't about me. They're about stuff I've seen.

All of my films have been autobiographical - it's all I've got to go on.

The way I personally work is I like to write what I know, what I feel, and also where I am.

A really fun part of getting to be an actor is exploring those parts of yourself that you wouldn't otherwise explore.

Whether it's a song or a television show, or a book or poem, art is the thing that cracks me open and encourages me to go on a deeper journey to find my own compassion and empathy and humanity.

I mean, what do you think creativity is? Nothing but self-indulgence. And the more self-indulgent it is, the more interesting it becomes. So I think that part of creativity is also falling in love with your own narcissism: accepting it, using it as an asset.

Everything I make starts very personally.

All my songs are where I am.

The more I see and know about life, the more ideas I have and the more I want to make art.

Writing is an incessant process of discovery.

I have learned so much about myself. I have re-discovered that little boy who had the hunger to create, which I think I had lost.

I take inspiration from everything around me, also relationships and friends. And the inside of my crazy head.

I love how people in this business push themselves to know themselves, the world, and their creativity better.

The more I do in my life, the more I can write music about new experiences.

Yes, all my songs come from personal experience and relationships.

A writer needs a life of introspection.

My work is through my emotions, so everything kind of goes together.

Curiosity is the best motive for writing: curiosity about the world at large, or about oneself.

What I wanted to do and what I needed to do was something entirely different, and through reading Roussel I learned that I could do what I wanted all on my own and that I didn't have to rely on what had actually happened in my somewhat limited life and reading.

When I started writing at 18 or 19, I had a fear of anything autobiographical, but I've come to realise that my writing is very autobiographical at the emotional level.

As I experience life and go through things, that's what I write about.