James Gray Quotes

The thing you must really do in television is bring yourself to everything you do - you can't try to be anybody else.

A word is not the same with one writer as with another. One tears it from his guts. The other pulls it out of his overcoat pocket.

The best advice I've received is to be yourself. The best artists do that.

The merit of originality is not novelty; it is sincerity.

Be yourself. Above all, let who you are, what you are, what you believe shine through every sentence you write, every piece you finish.

As a fan, I connect with realness. Whether it's strong or vulnerable, if it's real, I can connect with it.

I just try really hard to be me, and sometimes that means I'm unfiltered. I try to give people myself because I think making a great product is being in touch with how you feel about things and being able to express things. I really hope I can stay in touch with how I feel about things and I'm able to express that.

You have to add something of yourself to the portrayal.

I feel like one of my strengths is writing about stories that are unique to me but somehow relate with everyone, and the one thing I've found is that if you make a song wholly unique to you, then you don't have to compete with everybody, because nobody else can make a song like you.

Be you. If people like it, great. My music is honest, and it comes from the heart. I have never done anything to become famous.

You have to try and make the role your own and not copy anyone else.

I want to be unique and original and truthful.

I certainly don't want to be formulaic. I want to be honest and authentic and everything else.

Originality is... a by-product of sincerity.

Maybe if my songs feel personal, that's very nice. I like that. I take that as a great compliment.

Originality is independence, not rebellion; it is sincerity, not antagonism.

Posterity weaves no garlands for imitators.

With my writing, what I want to do is humanize the young people I write about.

We all have idols. Play like anyone you care about but try to be yourself while you're doing so.

I made a statement all my own.

When I write something that would have made me laugh as a 10-year-old, or would have scared me or would have excited me, I know I'm onto something.

There's no point that an album should sound like a watered down version of another album.

Country music busts the wall between performer and audience. There's a connection because there's a vulnerability, a confessional quality, to so much of the songwriting. Those lyrics take you in.

You can't be all of the people you're influenced by, so you make your own filter and create your own beautiful, unique thing in the world. Soak up the world, man, and make something of your own.

Even if you try to copy a film shot by shot, you still can't. It's still your own film.