Lou Barlow Quotes

'All Our Yesterdays' was unquestionably the best work I have ever done. And the reading public stayed away in droves.

It's kind of depressing to make a lot of records and not get the kind of response they deserve.

I thought 'The Well' was going to launch my career, but nothing happened.

I got involved in music because I love everything about it, but now I'm in it you see the other side and it isn't much fun. Not as glamorous and enjoyable as you imagine.

It's so disappointing to put in your best, hard work and then find the film flopping at the box office for no fault of yours.

I assumed no one would ever listen to my music, and for quite a lot of years, I was right.

I'd have thought my particular brand of quirkiness, combined with sharp intelligence and a fine voice, would have yielded more. But it hasn't. Yet!

When you're young and you're comin' up, and you dream of gettin' this record deal, and then you actually get it, and, you know, its apples and oranges from everything that you pictured. The line was pretty self-explanatory to me: once I got in my major label agreement, I definitely couldn't deal with it. It was drivin' me crazy, givin' me gray hairs at an early age.

While I revel in the memories of my own Grammy moment, I also know how it feels to walk away empty-handed.

Whenever you put so much time and effort into one single game, and you go out there and lose, it sucks.

You write a spec, and you pour your heart and soul and life into a spec, and you think that spec is the movie that's going to sell and get made... I've never heard of anybody that happened to.

I do feel a bit dejected about my film career. I am sad that it didn't take off as expected. I didn't get my due as an actor. I have an attractive personality and good looks. But I don't know what went wrong? You need to stop thinking about such things and move on.

I'd done an EP, and nothing came from that, and I didn't know where to go from there.

Always, I seemed to just miss out. Why, I wasn't even the most valuable senior athlete in my high school in Oak Creek, Wisconsin.

I had this dream that you get this record deal, and you're a star, and everybody loves you - but I was a youngster, and it didn't work out that way.

Sometimes hard work doesn't pay off.

I had basically been shelved by the record label for two years and I was writing songs every day. I made two albums that just never came out, and that was just a really big knock to my confidence, because everything I sent seemed like it just wasn't good enough.

The toughest part of my career was at the 2011 World Cup and 2012 Olympics and wanting so much to play and physically contribute - but having to understand and realize that it's just not my time.

Not only was I an 'X Factor' winner that got dropped by Syco - and when that happens, you're never heard of again - but everyone thought I was a clown.

I went to Cardiff on trial for six weeks and felt I did really well, but then they turned around and said they weren't going to sign me. It was a bitter pill to swallow because Hereford, where I was playing at the time, were scrapping their youth team, so I didn't have any other options.

To have your films not liked or not watched or failed, is not an easy thing to handle.

I was afraid of the sophomore slump even before our first record came out. It was a very real fear because I'd watched so many bands I'd loved in the past not deliver. I knew it was a very real thing. I didn't know why it happens, but I'd been thinking about it a lot.

The England manager didn't think I was good enough, and as a professional, you have to take it. Sure, it was disappointing, but all you can do is carry on playing well for your club and hope it changes. Unfortunately, it didn't.

I hate losing more than I love winning.

After acting in a critically acclaimed film like 'Kaaka Muttai,' I didn't get any offers for more than a year.