Steven Knight Quotes

Whatever is about you that is translated into your art, that's gonna keep you completly original and fresh and I just think that, that's just the best advice I can give, to an artist creatively.

Those writers who lie on the watch for novelty can have little hope of greatness; for great things cannot have escaped former observation.

I realised all the good ideas were taken before I was even born.

What a writer has to do is write what hasn't been written before or beat dead men at what they have done.

We are not here to do what has already been done.

I don't think there's any topic a writer should feel afraid of tackling just because it has already been discussed. If you feel you have a fresh perspective and an understanding of a certain emotional truth, it's always worth writing.

True originality consists not in a new manner but in a new vision.

A work of art is the unique result of a unique temperament.

I prefer to break new ground, but it gets harder and harder with the territory that's already been walked on.

I want to do something original rather than interpret someone else's performance, which is always the risk - even if it's only in a subconscious way. I want to concentrate on giving my own fresh interpretation.

I realized I had something new to say, something that wasn't already out there.

Agents and publishers are always looking for something 'different,' a fresh viewpoint and a new voice, not just re-hashed versions of stuff that's gone before.

I always imagine, and try to be on the lookout, for new things, for references that can inspire me creatively so I can showcase things that people haven't done before or that are new.

I love fresh ideas and want to do films which offer something new.

If it feels like you're aiming for something too familiar, and you're not having a primary new experience, then what's the point of making that movie? It's been done before, so try to find something new out of it.

I don't see myself directing the same movie twice.

As a songwriter, you always want to search for something that's right in front of you that you can twist into something new.

I think that's the key to any artistic endeavor: You want it to feel fresh and not have people look at it like it's re-creation of something else unless it's done in a really strong way.

Artists are always looking for new things and fresh ground and fresh air. If it feels new to me, there's a chance it'll feel new to the audience and we'll have found something.

In my actual imaginative contact with life, I am vastly more responsive to beauty than to horror - indeed, I never experience real cosmic horror except in infrequent nightmares. However, when I come to record my various imaginative experiences, I generally find that only the horror items have any uniqueness or originality. Others have seen the same beautiful things that I have seen, & have sung them more nobly.

I want to see something that I've never seen before, so how can I tell that actor what that is? I'm not trying to construct a document or situation that is what I want, because what I want is something new to me.

If there's an original thought out there, I could use one right now.

The challenge for me is still to do something that hasn't been beaten into the movie going consciousness. Otherwise what am I in it for?

Life experience makes the best music. That's the thing that nobody else can offer. Nobody else can offer my life. I have a life that is fit for movies, music, and so forth. Nobody else can give that.

I've been thinking so much about writing as a gift to readers - and how newness of subject (place or topic or person) is one of the biggest gifts at our disposal.