Charles Simic Quotes

There was no one near to confuse me, so I was forced to become original.

I didn't have anyone to play with so I made up my own world.

A dreamer is one who can only find his way by moonlight, and his punishment is that he sees the dawn before the rest of the world.

Only children are weird. The only children I know, including myself, are either superweird or very talented and special or a mix of the two. I think there was always a certain independence and loneliness - I had a lot of imaginary friends as a kid.

The downside of videos is that it will put my vision in front of other people, so they might not get the chance to create their own.

I just like doing things from my own head.

What another would have done as well as you, do not do it. What another would have said as well as you, do not say it; what another would have written as well, do not write it. Be faithful to that which exists nowhere but in yourself-and thus make yourself indispensable.

I never look at other people's work. My mind has to be completely focused on my own illusions.

I wonder if it is Australia's great distance from more populated land masses that allows its inhabitants to be left to their own devices, to be incredibly creative and, at times, to be wonderfully weird.

I just assumed the world was full of solo percussionists. I couldn't find sticks or music or anything where I was, but that was expected because there was nothing there anyway. And I think that was possibly the greatest asset for me, just not knowing.

The more powerful and original a mind, the more it will incline towards the religion of solitude.

They can put me in a jungle. Still, I can create.

Solitude is a breeding ground for idiosyncrasy, and I relish that about it, the way it liberates whim.

Perhaps if I knew I would be stranded on an island with but one book, I would choose the Bible. For no religious reason whatsoever, but because of the varieties of stories, which might be useful as the days pass.

My dreams were all my own; I accounted for them to nobody; they were my refuge when annoyed - my dearest pleasure when free.

I'm not writing non-fiction. I don't feel anything about me as a kid was unique. Except that I had more interest in being alone and using my imagination.

I grew up pretty much entertaining myself. So I know what its like to be in a room by myself and having fun with something.

As a kid, I was creative and unique, and I've had that my whole life.

I was not a popular little girl. I played Robinson Crusoe in a small wooden fort that my parents built for me in the back yard. In the fort, I was neither ostracized nor ill at ease - I was self-reliant, brave, ingeniously surviving, if lost.

Writing is an amazing place to hide, to go into the rabbit hole, and pull the trap door down over your head.

My creativity is an entity unto its own.

I played a lot of dress-up in my room. I really liked being alone. I had a lot of friends, but I had an only-child, live-in-my-head personality.

Everything I've performed has been from my own head.

I'm a weirdo and an only child. That comes together to create one-woman shows.

It's funny: I rarely reference anything, and I'm one of those people that doesn't really spend much time in other people's worlds. I just try and create my own and make it as distinctive as I can.