Ralph Waldo Emerson Quotes

This is rock'n'roll, not classical music. It's about people working together.

Collaboration is much like a birth. The song that springs forth resembles each one of us to a degree, but it's the kind of thing that would never be born from just one of us sitting down with a guitar.

As a painter you're responsible yourself, 100 percent. In film, you have the editor, the director, the other actors. It has the advantage of not being solitary.

In truth, I have always been amazed by a group of people who all work toward putting one person's vision forward - that's an interesting story for me.

The great fun for me is these collaborators. I'm nothing by myself. Being with these people, whether it's the 'Homeland' cast or stage collaborators, they make you everything you are. They make you come to work. They make you be alive.

I've always loved the experience of working together with other people toward an artistic goal.

Talent hits a target no one else can hit; Genius hits a target no one else can see.

The most common thing over the years is, 'What's it like to work with David Lynch?' That's absolutely the fascination, whether it's people that are in the industry or it's just diehard fans. Because he's our modern-day master. We're lucky enough to be alive at the time that an absolute master and genius is working.

My favorite thing about working with Lady Gaga is really just the sheer level of creativity she brings to the table. And she's really one of the most intelligent people I've ever known. Her intelligence is equaled by her heart.

It was awesome working with Miley. She's a visionary and she's a creator and has a lot of ideas.

I personally feel like the end product is always better when you can make a collective. It's like a band. You can have a bunch of individual great musicians, but when you come together, there's a sound that it creates that you couldn't do on your own.

I tend to gravitate toward people who are a bit more eccentric and creative and artistic in some ways. And I like bringing disparate kinds of creative people together to create some great work, even to share points of view on a new direction.

I want to interact creatively with the directors I work with - it's a thrilling way to work.

I enjoy the collaboration. I always envied people in bands who got to have that interaction.

I'm one that likes to collaborate. I love feeding off the creative energy, and it only makes me better.

Everything creative is somewhat collaborative. If you're a painter and someone stretches your canvas, it was collaborative on some level. Ultimately I'm the writer for me, but also anytime one of my friends gets stuck with a bit, they can call me and I'm pretty good at helping them get there. I think we all work together on some level, but for the most part, we're on our own.

Coffee is good for talent, but genius wants prayer.

For me, self-gratification eventually took a backseat to trying to do something collaborative with other people, to trying to make something new.

Genius is the summed production of the many with the names of the few attached for easy recall.

His [Michael Jackson] behavior was weird, but when you get an artist and a genius, many of the geniuses throughout our whole history were weird. And they did weird things because none of us could understand what was on their mind and why they did what they did.

Genius in general is poetic. Where genius has been active it has been poetically active. The truly moral person is a poet.

Those same forces that drive a genius to create the things or ideas that entertain or enlighten us often gobble so much of his personality that he has none left for the social graces.

A truly great artist has many talents.

I personally think if you're given four months instead of four weeks on a play, with the people who want to work that way, the play will invariably be different and stronger, and much more fulfilling and richer on all counts. There's no doubt in my mind about it.

It all starts with a great idea and teamwork.