Ray Davies Quotes

The stage sharpened my creative instrument and encouraged me to go deeper and try new things.

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

Any characters that make me think, 'I don't know if I can do this,' are the ones I most want to do. I don't want to do the same thing over and over.

On every new project, I try to write in a different way and see if there's a new side of myself I haven't explored.

Filmmaking is exploring. Why would I want to make a film about something I already understand?

I'm constantly striving to break through to something new. You try to maintain a neutral approach to your work, and not be too hard on yourself.

How can you go out on a limb if you do not know your own tree? No art ever came out of not risking your neck. And risk--experiment--is a considerable part of the joy of doing.

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.

The more I see and know about life, the more ideas I have and the more I want to make art.

I want to try everything I can; I want to push my boundaries and experiment with characters and genres that I have yet to try.

Being in the studio is like painting, you know, you can really take your time, and try different things, and kind of go deep into it.

Most people think an artist tries to be original, but originality is the last thing that develops in the artist.

To work on great material, what you really end up working on is yourself, your own humanity.

Experimenting with your own life is the most fundamental medium we have.

Creatively I just enjoy challenging myself in different genres.

I try to find more interesting material with each project I do.

I am still the place where creation does some work on itself.

It's very important to understand that we never do the same thing twice; each of our projects is unique. We'll never do another 'Gates.' Each project is a unique image. We do not know in advance how the work will look. I do preparatory drawings, but they are only projections of our vision.

If I have an opportunity to do something safe or something challenging, I'll often choose the latter. Sometimes, the objective is to submerge my viewpoint with the artist.

Writing and travel broaden your ass if not your mind and I like to write standing up.

Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes. Art is knowing which ones to keep.

I always treat each take as a rehearsal for the next take. That way you can find stuff and keep adding and playing until they tell me to stop.

When I'm making stuff, the thing that excites me most is not the result, but the process and trying to do something I've never done before.

It's so important to work with material you can really mold and milk and create and evolve.

You are always drawing from your personal life and using your imagination to fill in the blanks.