John Lasseter Quotes

I didn't want to imitate anybody. Any movement I knew, I didn't want to use.

I had no reason to want to copy anybody else. What I wanted to give audiences for the few minutes that I thought my career would last was something unique.

Do the stuff that only you can do. The urge, starting out, is to copy. And that's not a bad thing. Most of us only find our own voices after we've sounded like a lot of other people. But the one thing that you have that nobody else has is you. Your voice, your mind, your story, your vision. So write and draw and build and play and dance and live as only you can. The moment that you feel that, just possibly, you're walking down the street naked, exposing too much of your heart and your mind and what exists on the inside, showing too much of yourself. That's the moment you may be starting to get it right.

It's never good to just imitate somebody. That never works, because then you're not filling it with anything.

It's hard work to find your own voice and not to copycat anything.

I stay true to myself and my style, and I am always pushing myself to be aware of that and be original.

I kind of always wanted my own music to just sound like, like me, I suppose, like if I was music it would be the music I make, I think.

I don't know if there is any one secret to successful writing, but one important step is to move beyond imitation and discover what you can write that no one else can - that is, find out who you are and write that in an appropriate narrative and style.

You develop a voice and a process that's unique to yourself.

I like to create something that's unique and kind of true to myself and authentic and everything. I don't really like to mirror myself after different artists.

I can only do music if I can do it the way I can do it.

I think it's really important to make things your own in your voice. I started when I was 23, and in the beginning of my career, there was this expectation of a young designer being edgier, cooler, more downtown. But I was never that person.

I only do what I do. For me, it is a craft. It's got to be my own thing - otherwise, I would never be successful. I could easily go to the archives and pull 1987 or 1991 collection by Calvin Klein. But when you look in there, you realize that it was never about one piece. It was about the collections as bodies of work.

I feel like there's no real innovation in having some music. It's more just unique personalities and unique expressions, and you being able to tell your story.

My style is unique and it's my own. I do not try to copy or imitate anybody.

People are imitative and imitation is bound to be unintelligent. They want to do exactly the things which others are doing. That destroys their freshness. Do things in your own style; live your life according to your own light. And even if the same situation arises, be alert to find a new response. It is only a question of a little alertness, and once you have started enjoying... and it is really a great joy to respond to old situations always in a new way, because that newness keeps you young, keeps you conscious, keeps you non-mechanical, keeps you alive.

Everyone has their own sound, and if you're heard enough, folks will come to recognize it. Style however, is a different thing. Try to express your own ideas. It's much more difficult to do, but the rewards are there if you're good enough to pull it off.

Don't take voice lessons. Do it your way.

I feel like the point of being an artist is to have your own voice: to do it the way you would do it and not the way anyone else would do it. If you're a strong enough writer, then that voice is going to come out all the time, and I can't stop it from coming out, no matter what I do.

To the extent that independent means you're willing to attempt to put your own ideas, personality, and commitment to the material on screen, then of course I hope I'm independent until the day I die.

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.

And I think I have a distinct voice.

If you copy then it is not self-expression.

No, because I don't want to hear what's hot and feel I have to copy it. I'll just make up my own thing.

I don't chase what I hear on the radio. I try not to compete with anybody.