Creative Envy Quotes

I suspect that the word (art) was invented by second-rate intelligences to describe the incomprehensible activities of their betters.

War and Peace maddens me because I didn't write it myself, and worse, I couldn't.

I would give anything to sing like Beyonce or Adele. I've said many times to my friends that if I could sing like them, I would give up poetry and writing.

Pay no attention to the criticism of men who have never themselves written a notable work.

At some point, I started listening to music a little differently. Rather than being like, 'Yo, this is dope - who made this?' it started being like, 'I wish I made this.'

Since I became a novelist I have discovered that I am biased. Either I think a new novel is worse than mine and I don’t like it, or I suspect it is better than my novels and I don’t like it.

I never quite dare to believe I'm brave enough to be an artist, but I'm on the side of artists. I think of myself as a bit of a Salieri, looking with longing eyes at Mozart.

Oh my God, there are so many songs I wish I had written. 'Waters of March,' I wish I had written 'My Baby Just Cares for Me,' I wish I had written 'This Will Be Our Year,' I mean, there's millions of them. 'Wouldn't It Be Nice?'

Angry Birds is a very simple idea but its one of those games that I immediately appreciated when I first started playing, before wishing that I had been the one to come up with the idea first.

For whatever reason, all my friends are musical wizards and in great bands, but yeah, it really skipped over me. It's one art form that I can just sit back and appreciate and no have thoughts on. If I watch a movie, I always think, 'Oh, I'd have done this.' But with music, I can just sit back and think, 'All right, this is great!'

I'm pretty rubbish, as we say in Britain, artwise, and I always envy people who can pick up something and even do just a little doodle of someone that looks vaguely like them. It's impressive.

I used to study 'Hunky Dory' - and be mad that I hadn't figured out anything that cool!

I was always trying to do architectural jam sessions. But it's not quite as easy as singing or playing a guitar, so I would always see wonderful live musicians and just envy them that I wasn't in that medium.

I wish I was this dark genius artist - like Richard Pryor or something.

I've been reading Ed Brubaker comics since the first appearance of Ed Brubaker comics and every single time he announces a new title I mutter to myself: ugh! I wish I would've thought of that!

If I could be anyone, I'd choose the lead singer of Arcade Fire, Win Butler.

Actors always want to be musicians, and musicians want to be actors.

I just wish that I had a part in everything Aaron Sorkin wrote. Sometimes I wish I was a member of an acting troupe where we all just kept working together, the same people. I can't, unfortunately, be in everything he writes. I'm excited for him, but I'm jealous that I wasn't a part of it.

I think filmmakers all secretly wanna be musicians and all musicians secretly wanna be filmmakers.

Sometimes I'll listen to a lyric and I'll be so pissed off that I didn't write it.