Catherine Hardwicke Quotes

I knew what I didn't want, and I knew whatever it was going to be it had to be believable and it had to come from me and I had to drive it. The way I write is very honest and when I think of the music that I listened to growing up, I loved it because I believed it.

It's a weird job because making music or writing a song is a personal thing... and it kind of has to be. You can always tell when people are faking.

I just try to be true to myself and write about things I'm passionate about. I think what most people don't like about movies is they can tell that most movies are a product, and they don't mean that much to the people who make them.

If you make something with love and, you know, passion and you tell a real story, I think it will always find an audience somehow, you know.

If one uses music that one does not really love, then one will not succeed in making it one's own.

Don't write your books for people who won't like them. Give yourself wholly to the kind of book you want to write, and don't try to please readers who like something different.

A work of art which did not begin in emotion is not art.

Fashion isn't interesting when it comes from an uninspired place. It's like voodoo; we don't want things that are soaked in blood, sweat, and tears. I adore life, and I'm very easygoing - and it shows in my work.

As a songwriter, it's very hard to listen to music that's not coming from the heart and soul, personally.

Pretty much my feel toward MCs is, if you really got heart, you got passion, let's get on and do something. I like doing stuff with people that's real.

I've always made music from the heart, and that's what I do.

I suppose I'm always trying to break down the wall between my characters and myself. I'm trying to make the film as expressive and personal as I can, even if I can't explain, for example, how important it is for me to be Jewish.

When I looked at people like Goya and Pina Bausch, the message I got was just do what you're passionate about. Don't think about what other people are going to say or how they're going to receive your work. Just be your work.

You hear it said time and time again by successful directors: You have to make a movie for yourself. Don't make it for anyone else.

I wanted to create a body of work that I was proud of. It's come from honesty and integrity, without forcing anything from myself, the ideas had to come instinctively and organically. Whether that translates to people in that way, it's kind of out of my hands now.

If you look at the things I'm drawn to, it's always stuff that's got a lot of imagination and heart.

I write all my own songs. Everything I did on 'The X Factor' was basically original, except for some of the live shows. Everything I did was original, and I wrote it from the heart.

If you make a movie that's close to your heart, it will be close to other people's.

You make art, you make it from what you know, and that's the best way to make art. You get lost in the details and make something that feels like it's yours.

I think, at the end of the day, it comes down to authenticity and creating what you love.

I just try to write literally what I love. That's usually the barometer that I use. As trite as it sounds, I'm like, 'what would I want to see? What would I be excited about?'

If you make music with business in your head, it'll show. I make it from the heart. There's a difference.

Self-expression is my goal, I want to be real with my feelings. Singing and dancing and all the joy that goes with performing come from my heart. If I can't feel it, I won't do it.

The way I work is not the way that you work, and the whole point of any creative act is that. What I have to offer is me, what you have to offer is you, and if you offer yourself with authenticity and generosity I will be moved.

I'm willing to go wherever with this because music is everything to me. This is my world and how I see it. My music speaks for me in a way that's relatable and truthful.