Jeff Tweedy Quotes

It is almost impossible to reconcile self expression with the creative act.

That's something that I think the best artists retain - the ability to invite you into their small, intimate inner space, and let that be what radiates.

You can't ever create defensively. You just have to create the next thing that really speaks to you.

That's the thing about creating. When you create, you create your own thing, whatever that is. It's always going to seep through in whatever you do.

There are some guys out there who make great music who may or may not be super-emotionally attached to their work. To each their own.

I'm a songwriter; it's in my nature to express things openly.

My approach is simple. It is nothing other than what I am thinking at the time I make each piece of clothing, whether I think it is strong and beautiful. The result is something that other people decide.

Each time I write, each time the authentic words break through, I am changed. The older order that I was collapses and dies. I lose control. I do not know exactly what words will appear on the page. I follow language. I follow the sound of the words, and I am surprised and transformed by what I record.

An artist must find his expression closely linked to his individual experience or else follow in the old grooves resulting in lifeless forms.

Writing is both mask and unveiling.

One of the things that's complicated about writing anything is that it's an act of narcissism, and then of course once it sails out into the world, you have to let go of it.

Don't be pretentious is my first advice to young writers. This is the big problem - just because you're getting an MFA doesn't mean you have to write for the Academy. Be true to your personality. Don't temper your personality down with words. Don't build defensive fortresses around yourself with words - words are your friends.

The artist is obliged to invent the self who will paint his pictures.

Do the thing itself. Don’t pay much mind to critics or what anyone says about it. Just do it, in any form possible, and watch others doing it. Take it in viscerally, get it by osmosis. Don’t ever read your own reviews, certainly not the good ones.

Artists are all giving so much of ourselves to the work and the people and the press and the media and Twitter and all that now. For me, being able to create from a genuine place is really difficult lately because there's so much going on all the time, but when all that stuff gets quiet, you can explore your ideas without any ego or mental chatter.

Don't be too precious or attached to anything you write. Let things be malleable. For sketch writers, remember they're called sketches for a reason. They're not called oil paintings. Some of them are going to stink. You have to let them stink.

People shouldn't be embarrassed just because they get caught acting a little silly.

It's true that the human body is more vulnerable than the products of the human mind. We need to protect artists and journalists people to allow them to work.

Don't judge it. Just write it. Don't judge it. It's not for you to judge it.

Don't be 'a writer'. Be writing.

I never think of my audience when I write a poem. I try to write out of whatever is haunting me; in order for a poem to feel authentic, I have to feel I'm treading on very dangerous ground, which can mean that the resulting revelations may prove hurtful to other people. The time for thinking about that kind of guilt or any collective sense of responsibility, however, occurs much later in the creative process, after the poem is finished.

To blossom forth, a work of art must ignore or rather forget all the rules.

Every time I try to disown that concept for myself, which is a really healthy perspective, they bring it back all the time. It's so serious and so real and so tangible that you don't want to taint it with anything other than the thing itself. I was tickled pink with my very zen self, walking around saying that I made a record because I wanted to make a record. That's so beautiful. It's like a haiku poem. That takes away all the tension and the expectation. I just want to try to do something interesting.

If you work at rap and look at it as an art, the money will come. But if you try to get the money, it'll just always be shallow.

You can’t control what other people think about your art. Think about the part of yourself that you can control, which is your ability to be kind and loving and creative.