Albert Hammond Jr. Quotes

There's nothing new, even 'new' is inspired by something. We're all, either consciously or unconsciously, we're inspired.

I think we always move from imitation to assimilation to innovation, but I can't name you 20 people outside those we've already recognized who ever got to point three: innovation.

Lesser artists borrow, great artists steal.

I don't think I really invented anybody. I have drawn on real life.

I really strive to bring something new to each book. I don't want to write the same book over and over again.

What makes our world so fascinating is that continuously there are novel and creative ideas spurring people to leave old ways and try something new.

When I take from my influences, it's rare that I do it literally.

I'm always looking to make something that didn't exist before, fumbling about in the dark, not just while making a collection. The search for something new is a constant in my everyday life. But constantly searching for something new is like looking for a well in a desert.

If an artist may say nothing except what he has invented by his own sole efforts, it stands to reason he will be poor in ideas. If he could take what he wants wherever he could find it, as Euripides and Dante and Michelangelo and Shakespeare and Bach were free, his larder would always be full, and his cookery might be worth tasting.

Some of us have great original ideas and some of us depend on adaptations.

Art begins in imitation and ends in innovation.

I wouldn't say I'm a very original thinker, but if I have a good experience with something, I'll want to take it further or adapt it in some way.

In trying to make something new, half the undertaking lies in discovering whether it can be done. Once it has been established that it can, duplication is inevitable.

I think I've always been slightly addicted to not repeating myself. When you're doing something the first time around, it's often the best time. I think 'Blank Project' is about carrying on. Its that thing where you're making something because you have to, but you don't know how or why.

Most of us don't invent ideas. We take the best ideas from someone else.

You never know where your influences are going to come from, or where you're going to find your inspiration.

If you do something new, it will always look a little bit strange.

I'd like to do a lot of different stuff. I think it's important as a creative person to keep challenging yourself and keep doing new stuff. If you end up trying to repeat yourself it's death. It just becomes boring and takes the passion out of it. You gotta find stories and characters that you really want to hang out with.

Any creator owes a debt to past creation.

We Americans love original ideas. But truly, there are already plenty of good ones out there, ours for the taking. If I were too proud to copy the ideas of others, I likely wouldn't have even a fraction of my current success.

They sent me some tapes of the original Mole and I thought it was pretty intriguing. I'm sort of an experimenter; I thought it'd be interesting to play around and see what's there. It was fun. Turned out to be good.

People ask me, 'Don't you ever run out of ideas?' Well, on the first place, I don't use ideas. Every time I have an idea, it's too limiting and usually turns out to be a disappointment. But I haven't run out of curiosity.

Sometimes you find your voice by trying to write like people, and sometimes you find it by trying to write unlike people.

A lot of our creative flow comes from a place of curiosity and exploration. It often feels like we're excavating and asking questions and not just giving answers but really just exploring.

Inspiration takes many forms, but it's rarely pure.