Ralph Waldo Emerson Quotes

I suppose for me as an artist it wasn't always just about expressing my work; I really wanted, more than anything else, to contribute in some way to the culture that I was living in. It just seemed like a challenge to move it a little bit towards the way I thought it might be interesting to go.

When I am filming dramas, I lean towards doing what the public wants to see from me.

If people respect us as artists, they know we'll give them something different every time; they know we're pushing ourselves.

You don't have to compose a masterpiece every time, but I think the challenge of art is always searching for something different, searching for a new sensitivity, a new perspective, a new vision.

I said to Ruth Rendell, 'When you've written as many books as you have, it's easier.' She said, 'No dear, it gets harder'.

I try to physically and mentally immerse myself in whatever it is I am doing. That is good for me as an artist. I am always looking for that part that I have never done before, which makes it all the more difficult, because people want to hire you for what they've already seen you do.

Whenever you're trying to do your own take on a classic piece of literature, it's almost like you're trying to swim up your own stream or drive down your own path.

I can go out raw with nothing, and my fans would still be happy, but I feel that I owe it to them to give them almost like a Broadway musical at this point in my life. I have to give them something more, so I do have to think of different ways to do it.

The only thing an actor owes his public is not to bore them.

An artist must be a reactionary. He has to stand out against the tenor of the age and not go flopping along.

The popular mythology of creative genius depends on beloved stereotypes of the artist in youth and old age: the misunderstood upstart who forces us to see the world afresh; and the revered sage who shows us depths of insight attainable only through a lifetime of hard-won experience.

I think that art is supposed to be ahead of the times.

Every great dance company, even when it seems poised in perfect balance, needs constant renewal of both repertory and performers.

At least I want to be making films that are somehow born out of me that are stories I want to tell. The challenge is figuring out how to do it where you can make them personal, yet still deliver to an audience a film experience that is satisfying and emotional, and that's what I'm trying to do.

The artist is an educator of artists of the future who are able to understand and in the process of understanding perform unexpected - the best - evolutions.

As I get into it more, I want to grow as an artist, as an entertainer, and basically perfect my craft.

It's one of the things that looks good written down, but the reality is that you think about the pieces you're doing and try to bear in mind everyone in the audience.

It's a different era. Our job now is to show leadership and vision and to help the next generation of artists.

To be a truly conscientious artist, you have to look at what's not working and challenge it. You riff on things.

You have actors who begin at a certain young age and there's very little change in their technique and the depth of their performances; they're the same 30 years later.

Nothing is ever too expensive if it furthers the repertoire and artistic standards of a dance company.

The danger for any artist whose work is both recognizable and critically acclaimed is complacent repetition - the temptation to churn out easily identifiable, eagerly welcomed, and readily salable designs.

Things go in cycles. It's like fashion, like flares go out then skinny jeans come in, people want something fresh. It's the strongest ever urban scene at the moment and I hope it can progress and keep getting stronger and be the base for something larger.

Every great architect is - necessarily - a great poet. He must be a great original interpreter of his time, his day, his age.

We're offered bigger, larger budget movies to produce a lot, and we don't do them. That's not to say there aren't exceptions: there are a few exceptions, but I try and stick by the rules that produce what I think is the highest quality, most innovative work and try and let the rules go that make us feel like we're retreading.