John Prine Quotes

That's why I've never made a live album - I can't bear listening to myself!

If I spent my time worrying about what other people would think of my work, I would be too self-conscious to write.

I always get nervous when I watch what I'm in. Very self-critical.

I tend to be hypercritical of my performances. That's why I hate watching them with people I know.

I hate watching myself on screen. I can't stand it.

I have a really difficult time watching myself on film. I literally cower in my seat and cover my face.

I hardly ever watch my own work. I just end up picking myself apart! I can't even stand to hear myself on voicemail. the sound of my own voice is like nails on a chalkboard. The same goes for my records.

I'm one of those actors who fall into the camp of never wanting to look at themselves on camera ever, thank you very much. I do not and will not, because I am my worst critic.

When I leave a recording session, there is usually a lot of paranoia or superstition on my part, like I'm afraid to hear what we've done.

I've had terrible, terrible, terrible shows where I just thought, "That was off-key" or I forgot lines or I thought I looked like an idiot, and then you're leaving and talking to people, and they're like, "I had the best time of my life! That was amazing!" You just never know.

I'm not one for sitting around listening to my own music, because I tend to cringe and think that I could have done better. I also suffer from red light syndrome quite a lot. I tend to narrow my thinking when the red light goes on to record. Instead of just relaxing and playing and emoting, I think of time being wasted so I won't take a chance on something. Consequently, when I hear it back, I think, "Why the hell did I play it so safe on that piece of music when I could have really opened up?" Well, it's because of not wanting to make a mistake.

I'm pretty hard on myself when it comes to my voice, and certain notes I'm afraid to hit because I'm afraid I'm going to sound bad.

I had heard a live show, where my voice didn't sound the way I wanted to hear it and I got paranoid. I'm not an amazing singer, I just belt it out in this crappy old way, but for a while I had it in my head that I couldn't sing.

'Storm' was the first song I did as a member of YG. The record gave me a lot of pressure. I didn't think I was prepared at the time.

I am always in self-doubt... every moment of my filmmaking. I am supremely confident when the story is being written and everything is in our head. But the moment we get into the filmmaking, I start doubting myself - from the camera angle to the re-recording to getting the actors to do their shots.

When I was younger, I had a fear of being judged as a footballer, and my worst fear was feeling like I didn't belong at the level of football I was playing.

Like most comedians, I have crippling low self-esteem, so I always think that what I've just done is rubbish.

I love any kind of recognition because as an actor I'm very hard on myself sometimes.

I had intense anxiety, just with the acting and expectations. Am I good enough for this? This is so big. I'm on the cover of four magazines right now. Am I worthy of this? You question everything about yourself, and I did that. I put a lot of pressure on myself to make sure that I had the body and all of that.

It's a very hard line to walk, and I certainly am nowhere near having cracked how to do that, but I try to focus on being a brave performer and not worrying about my lighting or whatever, even though, then, sometimes I see myself on screen, and I'm like, "Why did you wear that, look like that, whatever," but I'm also more accepting that is what it is. There's this battle always.

You can criticize yourself to a point to do something better, or you criticize yourself to a point where you inhibit yourself.

As lovely as people are to me about my performance, I'm still a huge critic. I like very little of what I ever do.

I was going on years and years of auditions and being told I was too this, too that, not enough of this, not enough of that, to the point where I was so afraid and diluting myself into absolutely nothing...

Blocks usually stem from fear of being judged. If you imagine the world is listening, you'll never write a line.

It's crazy how every guitarist is their own worst critic in many ways.