Jeff Lemire Quotes

It is better to fail in originality than to succeed in imitation.

It is quite annoying that we have to change the sound we invented just to avoid sounding like people who simply copy us, but... it is flattering and of course challenging.

I wouldn't use the word 'scared' for my role as Hitchcock, but it was my most insecure. Taking on such a formidable, giant personality such as Hitchcock; he was one of the great geniuses of world cinema. Sheer genius.

Being in somebody else's thing and saying their words and not having any right to change it - I don't know how I'd deal with that. I'd like to think I could do it, but I just know I've got a dead particular taste.

It is better to fail in originality, than to succeed in imitation. He who has never failed somewhere, that man can not be great. Failure is the true test of greatness.

There’s nothing more embarrassing than a person who tries to guess what the great American public would like, makes a compromise for the first time, and falls flat on his face… I would rather be a failure on my own terms than a success on someone else’s. That’s a difficult statement to live up to, but then I’ve always believed that the way you affect your audience is more important than how many of them are there.

I've had some great gigs and had horrible ones. I always look at the horrible ones, and think there's got to be something in this that I can use later in my show. It all pays off in the end.

I think the worst thing in the world is for artists to produce themselves.

I wouldn't disrespect myself or my art with any imitations.

As actors you have this trait to imitate very easily. I don't want to imitate anything or limit myself of finding this creature, this woman because I'm looking at magazines and I'm reading comics, and I'm asking people that are avid readers of The Guardians.

I didn't sit down and work out other people's material; I've never believed in that.

To complain about critics in a business is like a sailor complaining about the waves. Go back to the beach if you don't like it.

I never wanted the temptation to imitate or emulate something that had been done beforehand.

I think it is more important to tell a story rather than follow any trend; that is a less bold way to go. If you do that [follow trends] you are just trying to ride on the coat tails of someone else's success.

Imitators? All right! Disciples if you like. But disciples be damned. It's not interesting.

The only thing all successful people have in common is that they're successful, so don't waste your time copying "the successful strategies" of others.

Most imitators attempt the inimitable.

To admire on principle is the only way to imitate without loss of originality.

Rather hang thyself than belong to the horde of successful imitators.

Dream the dreams of other men, you'll be no ones rival.

If you cannot fail, you cannot learn.

I'd rather be a flop at show business than to be a success at something I didn't like.

The only real failure is trying to second-guess the taste of an audience. Nothing comes out of that except a kind of inward humiliation.

What does it mean for a painter to paint in the manner of So-and-So or to actually imitate someone else? What's wrong with that? On the contrary, it's a good idea. You should constantly try to paint like someone else. But the thing is, you can't! You would like to. You try. But it turns out to be a botch... And it's at the very moment you make a botch of it that you're yourself.

All I would tell people is to hold onto what was individual about themselves, not to allow their ambition for success to cause them to try to imitate the success of others. You've got to find it on your own terms.