Edward Norton Quotes

What you're really after when you see a film or listen to a song is a singular vision, and I'm not sure how much of that you really get in Hollywood.

I try to make my music interesting to me first, then hopefully other people will find it interesting, too.

I like to make the music that I really love. You're supposed to make your favorite music that no one else played, and I'd like to just keep it at that and not really change it at all.

I don't try to guess what a million people will like. It's hard enough to know what I like.

Everyone is trying to make these huge songs; I just make things that I want to listen to. Music that I will be comfortable listening to 10 years from now, that's my only thing.

It's the duty of all novelists, all painters, all musicians, all people who try to make art move: to look for something they feel authentically, without paying attention to styles.

When it came to my art, I went my own way and did not follow the trends.

I never set out to make a movie that was everything to everybody; if that were the case, we could all just take a picture of a tree and agree that the tree is beautiful and move on with our lives. I wouldn't even need to show up.

I'd just like to be in films that I would like to see.

I don't worry about what everyone wants to see. I make movies that please a writer, director and myself. I always think there are enough people smart as me and sensitive as me.

Art has never been a popularity contest.

None of my movies have ever made any money, so it's not about commercial success for me. It's always the same thing. I want to create something valuable, something unusual and different that the world has never seen.

We want to create content that our fans will like but at the same time stretches us creatively, with our own little touch.

Creativity is not about making 30 songs in 30 days. It's never about demand and supply. No one can possibly do that.

I have no preconceived ideas; I gave that up a long time ago… The only thing we can do as musicians is make an album we like, and an album that we consider to be incredibly good.

I am thankful for the fact that the audience doesn't expect common, run-of-the-mill films from me. But the fact of the matter is that if the subject doesn't hit me hard enough, I will not do it.

I'm not going to do anything that I don't think is very funny, even if it's a lot of money or massive exposure.

The thing about creativity is, people are going to laugh at it. Get over it.

I make movies that I enjoy making and tell stories that I want to see, so it’s hard. You never reverse engineer those things and go, “What would appeal to this or that?” Even if I tried, I don’t know. I’m an all-American kid.

I tended not to be concerned about whether a song was going to be a hit when I wrote it. Because it became evident that none of us knew what was a hit and what wasn't. So I thought if I just write what I like, why shouldn't people like what I like?

The moment that an artist takes notice of what other people want, and tries to supply the demand, he ceases to be an artist.

I don't *ever* write about real people. Art is supposed to be better than that. If you want a slice of life, look out the window.

Creating things I think, especially as an actor - wanting to bring to the table things that have never been done before, but also making sure they're of high quality and not having a fear.

Good storytelling doesn't have to be in the form of the classics. It doesn't have to be revered by everybody. In fact, to me, the best storytelling is not universally loved by every single person. I think you can water down the ethicacy of the work, itself.

it's difficult in Hollywood to be allowed to try anything. It's all a terrible compromise. There is no time for art. All that matters is what they call box office.