Rivers Cuomo Quotes

The individual - man as a man, man as a brain, if you like - interests me more than what he makes because I've noticed that most artists only repeat themselves.

I found I am not an anarchistic form creator; I'm intuitive, and I'm trying to figure out a way to explore human fragility.

I get to study and I got to mimic and what I basically did was I stole from every person that I could steal from. I was an imitator. That's what I was. It was years before I could take all of these things that I loved about all of these different artists and put them together and find my voice.

I went from a playing in a bar on a bar stool for free beer and tip money, where people weren't paying attention to me, to now I've got their attention. It's up to me to what I feed them with my music. It's up to me how I do that. I've put a lot of thought into how great the songs are, and how I want people to perceive me.

I love how people in this business push themselves to know themselves, the world, and their creativity better.

Whoever undertakes to create soon finds himself engaged in creating himself.

I still don't know what genre I fit into. I want to try my hand at different things and find out what I am best at. I want to discover myself as an actress.

I did an internship at the Ardent theatre company in Philly after dropping out of college. I was earning $165 a week building sets and cleaning the toilets. Cleaning toilets is a good way of getting in touch with your creativity. That's when you find out if you got anything going on in your head.

I was 17 when I released my first record. I didn't really figure out what I wanted to say, how to get a message and put it together.

With every role that I do, I always see a little bit of me, a little bit of art and life.

Joanne' is a progression for me. It was about going into the studio and forgetting that I was famous.

I was a magazine illustrator for many years before I became an actor, and I used to think, 'Oh, God, all those wasted years!' But now I think it's just been one big enterprise of illustrating. I used to do it with colored pencils, and now I do it with this voice and this set of limbs.

I never stopped recording, but I went through a period where... The one thing that a lot of people don't know is that for as long as I've been as artist, I've been a writer and a producer.

As an artist, you keep learning. You draw out different parts of you.

I've been adjusting to what it means to be a songwriter, figuring out what I like about it and what I don't like about it and what it means to me as opposed to other people.

Forever, for me, it was just about trying to make it and become a known person and loved and revered in hip-hop and the culture. But then, I even realized that that isn't really important. What's mainly important is just the fans and the connection that you have as a man and an artist.

I was working with Jay Z while I was still learning how to be who I was about to become.

My life and career is defined by the constant pursuit of new forms of culture and self-expression.

I took a long time after 'Curious' to find something I really wanted to do.

I've taken a look back at my body of work and tried to deduce an essence, capturing aspects that reoccur. Reflecting on your own product can be difficult yet enthralling.

I was having a nice anonymous little time as a writer. I really was on the writer path. I was sort of minding my own business. I loved making a living in music.

I'm constantly learning as a songwriter, so naturally that makes you grow as an artist. But I also think the more time I spend in music the more time I feel I understand it; or at least I understand where I stand amongst the industry and my identity within it all.

The creative person is constantly seeking to discover himself, to remodel his own identity, and to find meaning in what he creates.

My urge to write is an urge not to self-expressionism but to self-transcendence. My work is both bigger and smaller than I am.

You know how writers are... they create themselves as they create their work. Or perhaps they create their work in order to create themselves.