Ralph Waldo Emerson Quotes

Form must have a content, and that content must be linked with nature.

The new artists coming through were very materialistic and Hollywood, not so engaged in communication.

Of course, I write. I have stories to tell. But I don't want to do superficial stuff any more.

Designis a revelation to me. It's like taking something that is not alive and giving it form, shape, substance, and life.

Critics can be harsh and I think it's going to take me a long time to make people see what I have inside of me and that I really put my guts into movies and that I'm not superficial and that I'm not just a pretty face.

I like artists who have something to say, not wallpaper.

I think the most challenging part of being a performer is just making sure that people know that when you get up there every night, it's unique and that you care.

It's amazing that you can listen to any song and you can always tell when there's some substance beneath it and when there isn't. Even if it's poetically written and technically brilliant, I'd rather hear something that's all over the place but has some soul to it.

I don't like to be entertaining. I don't like the feeling of being entertaining. If there was a musical or a comedy that was not just for entertainment but was rooted in something I could relate to on a real level, then I think I would do it.

I want the kids who watch 'One Tree Hill' to know that it's all pretend, and that the person at the core of that character values morals, honor and things like that. You want to inspire them to look beyond what is superficial and try to find that greater thing.

It is veneer, rouge, aestheticism, art museums, new theaters, etc. that make America impotent. The good things are football, kindness, and jazz bands.

Art is when things appear rounded.

Whatever brief delights it provides, mere strangeness in poetry and prose eventually leaves us cold, especially when we suspect the writer is stretching for effect to avoid the actual life before his eyes.

The externals are important but I'm not interested in superficiality.

I write my songs and just play them, so there are not a whole lot of fireworks. As long as the music comes first, it's OK to have some fireworks. But not the other way around.

People are consuming more than ever, but I think they want a bit of honesty and depth. Adele, Gotye, Janelle Monae - they're giving you a catchy song, but it's also a challenging song at the same time.

To be interested solely in technique would be a very superficial thing to me.

I'd never want to do something just for the show of it.

Music is so much more than what you wear and your hair.

I can't expect everybody to appreciate what we do. Our stage shows especially have been kind of polarizing. Either you went with it or you didn't, and you thought we were being pretentious. Personally, I think it's kind of boring when I watch a band that doesn't do anything to make it their own.

I would rather write something that's authentic to me than something that'll be likely to get played on the radio but doesn't have any substance to it. People can see through that really quickly.

With a gimmick, there isn't much substance. If you play to the crowd too much, it can go bad.

When you see the best of the best - when you see a Matisse or a Picasso - what interests you is the creativity and harmony.

The place I am always looking for - because in order to keep the business, I need to make a little compromise between my values and customers' values - is the place where I make something that could almost - but not quite - be understood by everyone.

I think the stage is the place where I feel most comfortable and most myself.