Barry McGuire Quotes

What I write is very personal, but not autobiographical. It's more 'thematically personal' - what's up in my life in terms of themes at the moment.

The way I look at life, whatever I'm doing at that time in my life is going to be reflected in my songs, for the most part.

Through my films I'm eventually trying to one day tell the truth. I don't know if I'm ever going to get there, but I'm slowly letting pieces of myself out there and then maybe by the time I'm 85, I'll look back and say, 'All right, that about sums it up.'

My life is my argument.

I don't think my approach to acting is all necessarily in service of the character. I think, selfishly, I've put it in service of myself, my perspective on the world and helping my life.

I'm doing things that are more artistic again, more close to the material that I love. I don't disparage those things that I did. They're just not as much reflective of who I am.

Don't go through life, grow through life.

The first record I spent five years writing and it was an amalgamation of all the things that happened in my life from the time I was fifteen to the time I was twenty.

My life is my message.

The more I do in my life, the more I can write music about new experiences.

I view life as a learning experience. It is not so much all about music; it is about what happens when you are doing the music.

For me, writing is a parenthesis where I can make sense of life.

I try to say something about the human condition whenever I can when I'm lucky.

I can't play anything until I find something that connects to my life, something I can carry as my secret map or code for the character.

My lyrics come from my experiences growing up in life, trying to find out and express who I am. That's basically it. I'm not trying to be a prophet or anything like that. I'm just reflecting on life.

The roles that have come into my life have taught me - and in that time period maybe I didn't even know it, but whatever came up or whatever it is that you have to express at that time, has benefitted me in a particular way.

I think the only reason I wanted to do modeling, really, was because I knew I wasn't ready to act; I knew I didn't have enough life experience, and I knew that doing photo shoots was a way of acting. Playing a character each shoot and being able to just emerge yourself in these awkward experiences - it was amazing.

All of my books come from something that I happen to be working out at a given point in my life. It's kind of self-therapy.

This record for the first time - feels like a record that really represents my whole entire life and instead of just a period of my life. And it is really kind of eye opening and it makes me feel really good to hear this record and hear all the years.

I made the record that my life had me make. Each one is like a diary.

A lot of my work comes from my life experiences.

I write about personal experiences.

I'm putting out music that I love, and they're basically just stories of my life and how I try and teach myself to think about things. They're kind of like notes to self, basically.

My films are always a reflection of where I am in my life.

I'm going through a beautiful stage in my life. I've learned about love, about life, about everything.