J. J. Cale Quotes

The theatrical marketplace is a challenge. What do you have to do to get someone to purchase a movie ticket to your movie? You have to do something that they've never seen before; you've got to enthrall them in a new way.

Needless to say, I like to create a unique sound for each project I do.

People are looking for something new at the end of the day, and I think when people can do something new and unique to get people's attention, that's what is needed. There's so many people that follow the trend, and then it gets to a point where it gets a little stale. So, in music, I mean, whoever's the new trendsetter, that's who people follow.

A good title is a work of a genius!

Inspiration is solitary, never consecutive.

All these words we use, anybody can be a genius now. It used to be you had to have a thought no one ever had before or you had to invent a number. Now, it’s like, “Hey, I’ve got a cup in case we need another cup.” “Dude, you’re a genius!”

I don't think I've invented anything. Henry Ford didn't invent the car, and Steve Jobs didn't invent the cell phone, and he didn't invent the digital revolution, but he could adapt, put things together in creative ways. So I think in what we do there's a lot of "let's try it and sees," whether it's a new color or a new style. But we didn't invent cosmetics or lingerie. How we market them - style, color - those are the things that we do, but it isn't pure creation. It's putting together ideas. I truly believe there's nothing really new in the world.

As long as there's something original going on, that's all that matters.

The only rule is don't be boring.

I admire anyone who can come up with something original. But not originality alone, because there can be originality in stupidity, with no musical description of any emotion or any beauty the man has seen, or any kind of life he has lived.

One Original Thought is worth 1000 Meaningless Quotes.

When I'm making something I need it to be catchy - I need it to hit the sweet spot.

It is better to fail in originality, than to succeed in imitation. He who has never failed somewhere, that man can not be great. Failure is the true test of greatness.

In an era of transparency, you can have innovation without branding, but you cannot have branding without innovation.

Originality is the only thing that counts. But the originator uses material and ideas that occur round him and pass through him. And out of his experience comes the original creation.

It is almost impossible to think of something no one has thought of before, but it is always possible to add different frills.

If you give the audience what they expect, they'll be bored. There are no rules: You do what you want while respecting the boundaries. You don't poke people in the eye; you do things they haven't seen before and make it accessible, funny and clever.

Man is an idiot. He doesn't know how to do anything without copying, without imitating, without plagiarizing, without aping. It might even have been that man invented generation by coitus after seeing the grasshopper copulate.

People who leave their own time out of their work cannot be surprised if their time fails to find them interesting.

Writing music is really personal, and it's a really exciting thing to participate in because represents the full creative process: It feels like something is coming from nothing.

If it Captures Your Imagination, it will captivate others.

It's great to be paid, but it's better to do something original that's going to be memorable.

You should be able to grab people with ideas.

There are no rules in filmmaking. Only sins. And the cardinal sin is dullness.