Terry O'Quinn Quotes

I wanted each of my books to be very different from the others, each to be special and uncategorizable, and I knew I could only do that a few times before I was in danger of repeating myself.

I don't want there to be a typical episode of 'The Walking Dead.' I want to try to give people different things every week because that's what I dig.

I should probably confess that I get bored easily, which explains my reluctance to work with formula, tropes, whatever.

Lie to Me' is one of the smartest shows on TV. We have something different, unique and new to say to the audience that they're not going to get from any other show.

I choose material instinctually - at the heart of it are characters that I feel are fresh and original, and allow for an opportunity to, I suppose, explore uncharted ground.

If you try to create someone else's performance, it becomes a facsimile of a facsimile.

Imitation is a caricature. Any imitation. Find out for yourself.

I think 'The Leftovers' is one of the most extraordinary shows that has ever seen the light of day.

Thing is - I'm easily imitated, never duplicated.

Of course you can't do anything completely original.

I'm not a mimic.

I didn't look at the previous 'A Wrinkle in Time' movie. I wrote ideas down from the book, but I didn't really want to copy that Meg. We're the same, but we're different at the same time. I wanted to make myself Meg. I didn't want to use somebody else or use a reference.

I like something with a really great storyline, characters, and concept. I like doing things that are new and cutting edge.

If your entire conception of what's possible in fantasy only comes from other fantasy books, you're going to go on to create a copy of a copy of a copy. There's nothing original there, nothing dynamic. Which is fine if that's your goal, but I've always wanted to do something no one else was doing before.

We try our hardest to be original, but the truth is, in a real ER, you get similar kinds of cases over time. We try to embrace the distinctions of different characters going through similar storylines.

When something original works, then everyone wants to copy it. But if you're trying to do something that no one's ever seen before it's frightening.

I try to never repeat a character. I always try to find something new and fresh and interesting that inspires me.

People go to the movies to see things they haven’t seen before. Call me a radical.

To do something, say something, see something, before anybody else -- these are things that confer a pleasure compared with which other pleasures are tame and commonplace, other ecstasies cheap and trivial.

The imitator dooms himself to hopeless mediocrity.

What a good thing Adam had. When he said a good thing he knew nobody had said it before.

Novelty is indeed necessary to preserve eagerness and alacrity; but art and nature have stores inexhaustible by human intellects, and every moment produces something new to him who has quickened his faculties by diligent observation.

It's interesting when something new comes along, a band of dwarfs playing electronic harps or something, but I'm not searching.

You were born God's original. Try not to become someone's copy.

One of my guiding principles is don't do anything that other people are doing. Always do something a little different if you can. The concept is that if you do it a little differently there is a greater potential for reward than if you the same thing that other people are doing. I think that this kind of goal for one's work, having obviously the maximum risk, would have the maximum reward no matter what the field may be.