Calvin Harris Quotes

I like to do things sort of intuitively, I think.

My gut instincts are strong, but they're not always accessible to me, which is why I like DJing, because you don't have time, and you have to go on instinct.

I think people who are regarded as better actors must have better instincts because, at the end of the day, once they say 'action,' it's you who has to do it right. You can do all the research and preparation or none at all, but it's your instincts that tell you, 'No, I'll do it like this.'

When I start writing songs and it turns into an overly belabored intellectual process, I just throw it out.

I don't do my best work while I'm in therapy. I'm too onto myself immediately seeing meanings in things and more likely to censor myself. I'd rather find images I don't understand. That's what generates the work.

The actual writing of a song usually comes in the form of a realisation. I can't contrive a song.

Any talk of 'craft' makes me laugh. My music looks outward; it does not gaze upon itself in admiration. Artisanal is for cheesemakers. I don't know anything about music theory. Every time I approach my guitar, it's like the first time. There's no craft in that.

The more you think, the more you ruin things. Art has to come viscerally; otherwise, forget it.

Anytime that I've felt uninspired, I don't force myself to sit down and write. I only do it when I feel the impulse.

Painting is almost like a sport. It's like this action thing. When I do it, I'm really not thinking. The paintings are like a diary that I might not want to read again.

Artists today think of everything they do as a work of art. It is important to forget about what you are doing - then a work of art may happen.

You can't rush inspiration.

I don't make judgments about my own work, and I don't analyze it; I just let it happen. That applies to everything I've done.

I don't really dissect too much when ideas come - they just kind of pop into my head; I just take them and run.

Life's so much based on instincts and quick decisions, and people don't know what they're looking for.

The way I did the first album... the way I wrote 'Church'... was just to trust my instincts with the music and let it kind of do what it does.

It's gotta feel natural. I'm always into that, and after awhile, if I am working on a song too long and trying to make something out of it that it's not... it's best just to stop and move on.

You can't slot a time and a space and think 'ok now it's time to sit and compose.' It just doesn't work like that for me.

I'm not a big planner; I decide by intuition.

[Mannerism is when] you think you have all these great ideas, and none of them are good at the end of the day. But while you are pursuing those other things subconsciously happen.

How many situations can be resolved with less thinking?

First thought is best in Art, second in other matters.

I'm pretty critical, but I'm also pretty good at letting go once it's done. There's this existential argument that comes in, at some point, when you're over-thinking the songwriting process. There's no guarantee that the more time you spend or the more you concentrate on certain aspects that that's going to produce a better result, especially in the arts. Some of the most brilliant things that someone might do could happen in three minutes because it's something that just occurs to them.

Art does not come from thinking but from responding.

For me, something will come in my head and I'll either end up calling my cell phone to record it, or I'll just pick my guitar up and see what comes out. Sometimes it sucks, sometimes it doesn't. So there's really no set method behind it.