Charles Mingus Quotes

Art enables us to find ourselves and lose ourselves at the same time.

My physical transformations - like changing my hair - are usually a reflection of what's inspiring me at the moment.

Part of the very impulse of writing for me is actually wanting to get away from myself.

I'm not going to become a costume version or caricature of myself; I like to morph.

It is always the same: once you are liberated, you are forced to ask who you are.

Training readers to expect a voice or subject matter from me would interfere with the reinvention I crave. At the same time, I feel almost too able to disappear at times.

When we're growing up there are all sorts of people telling us what to do when really what we need is space to work out who to be.

I believe that being an actress or being involved in a movie has to be a life experience, otherwise why go for it? I have to change me, and I have to learn things, and I have to push me and my limits. By acting, I find a freedom inside of a prison in a way.

Certainly, I devote my energy to both telling my personal life story and seeking self- obliteration. However, I will not destroy myself through art.

I think if we didn't contradict ourselves, it would be awfully boring. It would be tedious to be alive.

My writing was liberated once I abandoned acting.

Well, you know, it's been interesting because an album is just a snapshot of where you are at that time. Not all pictures of everybody are just in jeans and a 'T' shirt, or a ball gown. You have many different sides and this is a snapshot of where you are at that time.

I think skating helped me find myself.

You know, I don't really do that much looking inside me when I'm working on a project. Whatever I am becomes what that film is. But I change; you change.

Know thyself. A maxim as pernicious as it is ugly. Whoever studies himself arrest his own development. A caterpillar who seeks to know himself would never become a butterfly.

When I let go of what I am, I become what I might be.

We continue to shape our personality all our life. If we knew ourselves perfectly, we should die.

I didn't start writing so that I could more deeply know myself. I was bored of myself, my life, my childhood, my hometown. I started writing as a way to know others, to get away from myself.

To become different from what we are, we must have some awareness of what we are.

I want to explore more sides of humanity and myself. That's what acting is about.

You can't leave the thing that you are, the house that has become your biography.

I don't believe complete assimilation is possible, at least not for anyone who has an active, open mind. Every step, every entry into the flows of existence can be seen as a beginning, a commencement of a brand new way of seeing oneself in the world. This is the case for everyone.

Writing music on your own makes you think a lot about your life. Who are you? Would you change anything about yourself? This is where it comes from.

I'm really interested in stories about identity - who I am now versus who I used to be.

My lyrics come from my experiences growing up in life, trying to find out and express who I am. That's basically it. I'm not trying to be a prophet or anything like that. I'm just reflecting on life.