Pawel Pawlikowski Quotes

You can't ever create defensively. You just have to create the next thing that really speaks to you.

A lot of people probably get the idea that I'm this extremely calculated kind of guy, and in a lot of ways, I am. But when it comes to music or artistic expression, I'm very uncalculated and do things very spontaneous. If I didn't do that, I wouldn't want to do this anymore. I can't just play the same thing over and over; it would drive me crazy.

One of the things with the second record, a word I held close to my chest was 'brave.' To take chances to go outside the box and explore. To continue to toss off any expectation that our fans or anyone else might have of us, to just tap into who I am as a writer and artist and really just operate within that freedom of creation.

I just wanted to make something in the world and worry about the rest of it later and not get too caught up in rules.

I never thought innovation as such was very important. Not when you have to think about it... If you're going to come up with a new direction or a really new way to do something, you'll do it by just playing your stuff and letting it ride. The real innovators did their innovating by just being themselves.

I don't have the same restrictions that other people do because I never painted myself into a corner. I've always done things that didn't necessarily fit the form. I've never felt limited in that respect in terms of songwriting.

A creative person has to be alive. He can't borrow from things he's done in the past. He can't let his method choose his subjects or his characters. They can't be warped to fit his style.

I have this theory that your first film is always your best film in some way. I always try to get back to that moment when you're not relying on things you've done before.

I'd rather play here in this small bar and just do a good show. Because it's fun and there's no expectations, it's encouragement to be different, do something new.

Don't play what's there, play what's not there.

It's really easy to project this whole ideology of what being an artiste is, and I'm just not down with intellectualizing it. I just think, if you feel like doing something, then do it.

Modern dancers should be doing things no one else is doing, and it should come from the gut.

When someone comes along and expresses him or herself as freely as they think, people flock to it. They enjoy it.

I ad lib. I've gotta bring my own into it.

Art requires neither complaisance nor politeness; nothing but faith, faith and freedom.

Balance is the enemy of art.

The main thing in making art often is letting go of your expectation and your idea.

The great thing about this thing we call art is that it has no rules.

If you're creating anything at all, it's really dangerous to care about what people think.

I think people do their bravest work when given an elusive canvas. That would be seemingly the weirdest, but also the most wonderful.

There's not a formula that I'm following; it's just how I feel at the time. For instance, I did a very experimental film called 'Hardcore Henry,' and that was simply because I thought the filmmaker was very interesting and a risk taker. A film like that had never been made before, so I chose to do that at the time.

I just want to keep pushing the envelope without it feeling forced.

I actually found not having a routine was inspiration.

I'm all about spontaneity. I think it makes for greatness.

Maybe you have a particular type of sound you want to go for, but if you really want to be original, there's no real recipe for that. For me it's just about letting it come to you... if you can let your head clear out, then almost anything is available.