Sufjan Stevens Quotes

Some of my music requires an obsessive-compulsive approach and a real embodiment of excessiveness. So I really have to live in that world of overstimulation. Sometimes I think it's like a drug; more is more, and you can never get enough. The older I get, the more I crave that excessive aesthetic. It's never going to satisfy me. ~ Sufjan Stevens

My only concern about art collaborations is that I never thought of myself as an Artist. My tax forms say Musician/Songwriter. ~ Sufjan Stevens

Morals, principles and laws are when faith is reduced to standards and those standards basically just bind us, and we become prejudicial, racist, self-serving when we're guided by these laws ... When a developed country uses Christianity in its policies, in government, in maintaining corporate wealth, that's a bastardized rendering of a faith. ~ Sufjan Stevens

I always hated 'O Holy Night.' It's so operatic and overwrought. ~ Sufjan Stevens

Perhaps we have failed as human beings. Perhaps we have embarrassed ourselves to the natural world. We have been rigorous and willful in all the wrong ways. But it doesn't have to be this way. Maybe you don't want to deal with (marching), the permanent marker and poster board. But try something else. Carry someone's groceries. Chat with the custodian in your office building. Donate blood. Live in Rwanda for a year. Write letters to the Department of Buildings. Learn to knit. It is only going to get better from here on out. ~ Sufjan Stevens

I have a lot of friends who have hula-hoops, it's like a mixture of dance and athletics and exercise, meditation. It's a healthy hobby I think. I can do a few tricks, I can hoop from my neck and shoulders, and I can do a few moves, a few tricks! I can walk through the hoop whilst it's spinning. I feel like there's definitely an interest in promoting the hula-hoop as an important pastime! ~ Sufjan Stevens

I believe that music is a spiritual language. My everyday self is pretty mundane and boring, but when I'm making music it allows for me to communicate a kind of transcendence that I can't communicate otherwise. ~ Sufjan Stevens

You know, I don't think my music is important, I don't think it's changing the world, I don't think it's art. I just think it's music. It is what it is. ~ Sufjan Stevens

I still describe myself as a Christian, and my love of God and my relationship with God is fundamental, but its manifestations in my life and the practices of it are constantly changing. I find incredible freedom in my faith. ~ Sufjan Stevens

I'm pretty involved in everything I do, which isn't always efficient and doesn't necessarily make for the more successful product. But I do feel that, in that sense, everything I do has a comprehensiveness to it. ~ Sufjan Stevens

I feel like the Internet needs to be disarmed in some way. There needs to be a philosophical undermining of the Internet. We take it too seriously and too literally. For a reference we go to Wikipedia, which is full of inaccuracies and misinformation. It's kind of beautiful - it's all the product of imagination; it's not reality at all. ~ Sufjan Stevens

Art is ... a reflection of a greater divine creation. There really is no separation. ~ Sufjan Stevens

I've always been obsessed with electronics and using computers and software. It's always been part of my vernacular. ~ Sufjan Stevens

I've been working a lot on figuring out how to sing differently and better. I want to become a better singer. I want to sing out more. I want to me more extroverted, vocally. ~ Sufjan Stevens

Now that I fell into your arms
My only lover, give out to give in
I search for the capsule I lost ~ Sufjan Stevens

The World's Fair was the precursor to theme parks like Disneyworld, and the really sort of cheap, superficial promotional architecture that you see everywhere in the U.S. I think there's a danger when you start creating a civilisation that isn't meant to last. ~ Sufjan Stevens

I like residing in abstraction. ~ Sufjan Stevens

There's a sense of urgency in understanding that your body is not really your own. We can control it to a certain extent through habits and good behavior, but there's so much we don't have control of. ~ Sufjan Stevens

I was feeling privileged and self-conscious about my life as a musician, which feels self-absorbed. I can't help it, I am a musician. This is what I do. ~ Sufjan Stevens

I want to throw my voice more, I want to manipulate melody more ... I want to be less deliberate and mechanical ... I want less melody. ~ Sufjan Stevens

We stayed a long, long time, to see you, to meet you, to see you at last. ~ Sufjan Stevens

I always knew you
In your mothers arms
I have called your name
I have an idea
Placed in your mind
To be a better man
I've made a crown for you
Put it in your room
And when the bridegroom comes
There will be noise
There will be glad
And a perfect bed
And when you write a poem
I know the words
I know the sounds
Before you write it down
When you wear your clothes
I wear them too
I wear your shoes
And your jacket too
I always knew you
In your mothers arms
I have called you son
I've made amends
Between father and son
Or, if you haven't one
Rest in my arms
Sleep in my bed
There's a design
To what I did and said ~ Sufjan Stevens

I'm always hearing music in terms of what I can take out of it, and I think I've always listened like that. I have a hard time just listening for pleasure. I'm much less about instinct, and more of a utilitarian listener. ~ Sufjan Stevens

I no longer really have faith in the album anymore. I no longer have faith in the song, ~ Sufjan Stevens

I'd love to work with Sufjan Stevens. He so gets it. He's amazing. ~ Lee DeWyze

I don't think it's so hard to be commercial and interesting. Look at Prince, or Neil Young. ~ Sufjan Stevens

I started playing guitar when I was 12 and probably from that age knew that I wanted to make music and make my own music. Playing with other bands like the Polyphonic Spree and Sufjan Stevens was more like an apprenticeship for me than anything. ~ St. Vincent

There's such a magnitude of record taking. It's so exhaustive. Bandwidth and hard drive space are able to accommodate limitless capacities to take a record of anything and everything. ~ Sufjan Stevens

We live in a world that is cruel to the earth itself. Man is a biological terrorist. ~ Sufjan Stevens

The best fiction is geared towards conflict. We learn most about our characters through tension, when they are put up against insurmountable obstacles. This is true in real life. ~ Sufjan Stevens

I've been trying to challenge myself to be more explicit. I've always liked punk rock and Sonic Youth. I make that music privately, but I've never released it. ~ Sufjan Stevens

should i tear my heart out now?
everything i feel returns to you
somehow ~ Sufjan Stevens

Love is unconditional and incomprehensible. And I believe it's possible to love absent of mutual respect. ~ Sufjan Stevens

The spiritual ambiguity growing up made me really latch onto a faith - Protestantism - that was somewhat conventional. Everyone else was rebelling against traditions and institutions, whereas I was rebelling against the upheaval and uncertainty in my family. ~ Sufjan Stevens

And cranking Sufjan Stevens at top volume doesn't solve anything, which is probably why people don't crank Sufjan Stevens. ~ Becky Albertalli

And in my best behavior
I am really just like him
Look beneath the floorboards
For the secrets I have hid ~ Sufjan Stevens

I am not naturally inclined to history or geography - maybe that's why I like to sing about it, because it helps me remember. ~ Sufjan Stevens

I'm no longer beholden to the sacredness of the recorded song as some kind of ultimate standard by which every performance of the song is measured. I like to diversify, that there are multiple versions of every song. And the songs incorporate a lot of improvisation, and an element of chance, and I think that's exciting. There's no one true formulation of a song, they have various manifestations depending on the space we're in. I like that. ~ Sufjan Stevens

I love anything by Tchaikovsky. He was the real pop star of his day. ~ Sufjan Stevens

I was sort of born into a Subud cult that has ties to Islam and Indonesia and Middle Eastern spiritualism. My parents were kind of trial-and-error when it came to religion. ~ Sufjan Stevens

It's hard to reconcile my personal beliefs with an entire institution like the Church or the Republicans. Or with people within those political persuasions who have such different ideologies but confess the same things I confess spiritually. ~ Sufjan Stevens

Every time Jimmy Scott sings, it's the same but slightly different. I don't know how he does that or where he gets that from. I think it's instinct. Nothing he does is by chance; he's in complete control of what he's doing. He's just beautiful and unique. ~ Sufjan Stevens

Pro Tools is an incredible resource. I think it's enabled me to do things that I wouldn't have been able to do without this kind of computer editing. ~ Sufjan Stevens

I still feel like I have a lot to learn in the realm of sound experimentation, and I think I would like things to get noisier and weirder and more distressed and more aggressive, but I don't know if that's something that would be suitable for public consumption. ~ Sufjan Stevens

I find in music there's a space and a language I can use to express things in ways I can't describe conversationally. ~ Sufjan Stevens

It's a mystical quality of music, that music isn't really concrete, and it's communicating abstractions about imaginary worlds. At least, my music's like that. It's not real. It's unreal, it's all fabrication. To write a song about Obama would suddenly break the spell. ~ Sufjan Stevens

... he thought Sufjan Stevens was overrated, which was basically a declaration of war, as far as I was concerned ~ Jasmine Warga

Life is all about toiling and labor. But obviously I get great joy in confronting challenge and taking risk. ~ Sufjan Stevens

Perhaps we don't like what we see: our hips, our loss of hair, our shoe size, our dimples, our knuckles too big, our eating habits, our disposition. We have disclosed these things in secret, likes and dislikes, behind doors with locks, our lonely rooms, our messy desks, our empty hearts, our sudden bursts of energy, our sudden bouts of depression. Don't worry. Put away your mirrors and your beauty magazines and your books on tape. There is someone right here who knows you more than you do, who is making room on the couch, who is fixing a meal, who is putting on your favorite record, who is listening intently to what you have to say, who is standing there with you, face to face, hand to hand, eye to eye, mouth to mouth. There is no space left uncovered. This is where you belong. ~ Sufjan Stevens

One of my strongest memories is my father playing bongos in the living room in Detroit listening to Motown radio. He was this skinny white bald guy, but he was really moved by blues and Motown and funk. ~ Sufjan Stevens

I'm being explicit about really horrifying experiences in my life, but my hope has always been to be responsible as an artist and to avoid indulging in my misery, or to come off as an exhibitionist. I don't want to make the listener complicit in my vulnerable prose poem of depression, I just want to honor the experience. I'm not the victim here, and I'm not seeking other peoples' sympathy. I don't blame my parents, they did the best they could. ~ Sufjan Stevens

If Broadway musicals were as popular as they were in the 20s, 30s, and 40s, then people like Sufjan Stevens and Iron & Wine would be writing for Broadway, which would be amazing. As it stands, it's the worst stuff that's mired in pop music. ~ Colin Meloy

The Internet is manic. It's very strange. I don't think it's healthy. They should outlaw posting comments! It's a bummer to go somewhere to get information or buy tickets and you encounter profanity everywhere you go. ~ Sufjan Stevens

The goal is to never stay the same. I always want to be changing and evolving. That's the whole point of life and the whole point of making art is to be constantly moving. ~ Sufjan Stevens

The Internet is just one big gossip chamber - that's why it's so fascinating and entertaining. It's a fabulous platform for superficial communication. ~ Sufjan Stevens

All the time we spent in bed, counting miles before we said, fall in love and fall apart, things will end before they start. ~ Sufjan Stevens

It's hard to say if actual places really affect the way you write. ~ Sufjan Stevens

In third grade, I had to an oral report on the state of Oregon. I brought up Big Foot sightings, and I remember there was an argument about whether or not Big Foot was valid history. Ever since then I've been thinking about how subjective history is. ~ Sufjan Stevens

Everyone suffers; life is pain; and death is the final punctuation at the end of that sentence, so deal with it. I really think you can manage pain and suffering by living in fullness and being true to yourself and all those seemingly vapid platitudes. ~ Sufjan Stevens

There is nothing more incredible and moving and appealing than good music, and it cannot always be reduced to a story, to exposition. It's so much more abstract and brilliant. ~ Sufjan Stevens

I'm terrified of just being myself because I think it's boring. I know who I really am and I think it's boring. ~ Sufjan Stevens

Audacity is central to everything I do. A lot of times I think my work is about just seeing if I can get away with it. ~ Sufjan Stevens

The round-up is an aggressive tradition. I'm trying to objectively be a steward of the tradition and what it means in its choreography. ~ Sufjan Stevens

As much as writing is an emotional experience, it is a business as well. Coming from a business background, I treat it as such. ~ Chevy Stevens

I wanted a life full of intrigue and mystery, new environments, and new people ... [a] temporary life with no fear of being trapped, ~ Addy Stevens

Daisy was still lingering in the kitchen when they arrived, and when she saw Steven she shook a wooden spoon at him. "I raised this chile to be a good girl," she warned. "Don't you go messin' with her, hear?" The beginnings of a grin quirked Steven's lips, but he didn't quite give in to it. "Yes, ma'am," he said. Emma ~ Linda Lael Miller

LIGHT FROM WITHIN my friend, cancer got you damn it: you had it beat for seven years at least. how did it come back? Why all that pain. again. and you, such a fighter you fought me over and over with tears and words and promises. you fought for me with honesty and a light so bright it hurts my heart. sweet lorna. at peace now finally no more battles, just light from within a flickering candle in the dark burns with you. ~ Wallace Stevens

You see, there was this man, and he was a good man; he worked hard and did everything to the best of his ability. All he desired was for the most beautiful woman in the kingdom to be his wife. Now this wasn't all bad because she actually loved him too
very much so
but this vizier, he wanted her as well and not for so noble a cause as love."
"What did he want her for?"
Yashar paused for a moment. "So that people could look at him and say, 'He must be a great man to have such a beautiful wife.'"
"Oh. I thought he wanted her for sex," said Colby, disappointed. ~ C. Robert Cargill

Don't you ever touch her again," Bodee says. There must be muscles in his arms where before I thought there was only T-shirt. But it's not those muscles that pin Hayden against the ground: it's the white-hot fury that's as visible as Hayden's grimace. ~ Courtney C. Stevens

The freedom of a government does not depend on the quality of its laws, but upon the power that has the right to create them. ~ Thaddeus Stevens

Of what is real I say,
Is it the old, the roseate parent or
The bride come jingling, kissed and cupped, or else
The spirit and all ensigns of the self? ~ Wallace Stevens

He knew that no matter what, this woman, once his blood slave, then his greatest downfall, and finally his salvation would never fail to amaze him, never fail to bring joy and love to his live, and would hold him captive for eternity. ~ Erica Stevens

The point of vision and desire are the same. ~ Wallace Stevens

Family is hugely important to me. Having kids is the best possible way to shake off any kind of darkness that might accompany a role that you're playing. ~ Dan Stevens

I thought I might say something to newsmen that could be turned into a scandal. ~ George Stevens

I think this country would be much better off if we did not have capital punishment ... We cannot ignore the fact that in recent years a disturbing number of inmates on death row have been exonerated. ~ John Paul Stevens

A Cat Stevens record isn't just Cat Stevens' ideas. It's Cat Stevens and all the musicians who play with Cat Stevens, right? ~ John Darnielle

She recognized Steven's voice when he said, "Throw that guy out on his big furry - " Sarah turned off the radio. Frank smiled. "Man, it feels good to be loved. Must be that article I wrote about those guys mistaking an elk for a Sasquatch. You know, I bet they could still get their story published. The supermarket tabloids would jump on a juicy tidbit like that. ~ Chrissy Peebles

The way through the world
Is more difficult to find than the way beyond it. ~ Wallace Stevens

The gospel is not weight, it is wings. It carries us. ~ Jean A. Stevens

My second hit was a flop. ~ Shakin' Stevens

Beneath every no lays a passion for yes that had never been broken. ~ Wallace Stevens

Why should she give her bounty to the dead? What is divinity if it can come Only in silent shadows and in dreams? ~ Wallace Stevens

My dad was a huge Bob Dylan fan, so we listened to his music, Cat Stevens, Simon & Garfunkel, and all that kind of stuff. ~ Oscar Isaac

The figures of the past go cloaked.
They walk in mist and rain and snow
And go, go slowly, but they go. ~ Wallace Stevens

Everything I do is for the pleasure of Allah. ~ Cat Stevens

When word gets out you're in here, the press'll be all over this place like stretch marks on a ninth-street lap dancer. ~ Al Stevens

In a way I'm better. Telling Bodee has released some of the pressure. In but another way, I'm worse, because I can't tell him I'm better. We define "better" differently. ~ Courtney C. Stevens

What are the stars telling you?" I asked.
Max pushed up on his elbows and pretended to strain his ear toward the sky. "They say...They say...you're allowed to forgive yourself."
I rolled sideways...and he did the same.
"For what?" I asked.
"Living."
"I'm not very good at that," I admitted.
"Well, you kissed someone without flinching. Maybe you're getting better."
"Maybe it's just you."
He didn't argue. ~ Courtney C. Stevens

You both love Tolstoy and Dostoyevsky, Hawthorne and Melville, Flaubert and Stendahl, but at that stage of your life you cannot stomach Henry James, while Gwyn argues that he is the giant of giants, the colossus who makes all other novelists look like pygmies. You are in complete harmony about the greatness of Kafka and Beckett, but when you tell her that Celine belongs in their company, she laughs at you and calls him a fascist maniac. Wallace Stevens yes, but next in line for you is William Carlos Williams, not T.S. Eliot, whose work Gwyn can recite from memory. You defend Keaton, she defends Chaplin, and while you both howl at the sight of the Marx Brothers, your much-adored W.C. Fields cannot coax a single smile from her. Truffaut at his best touches you both, but Gwyn finds Godard pretentious and you don't, and while she lauds Bergman and Antonioni as twin masters of the universe, you reluctantly tell her that you are bored by their films. No conflicts about classical music, with J.S. Bach at the top of the list, but you are becoming increasingly interested in jazz, while Gwyn still clings to the frenzy of rock and roll, which has stopped saying much of anything to you. She likes to dance, and you don't. She laughs more than you do and smokes less. She is a freer, happier person than you are, and whenever you are with her, the world seems brighter and more welcoming, a place where your sullen, introverted self can almost begin to feel at home. ~ Paul Auster

Just because your lover died doesn't mean you can't find another. Besides, if
you don't start dating again your parents will intervene and I've met your parents, they scare the crap out of me."
Anthony shivered at the memory of his parents'
matchmaking skills. "Last time they fixed me up with a fairy."
Steven snorted. "I thought you didn't like labels."
"No. He was an actual fairy, you know, from Faeland."
That got Steven's full attention. "What happened?"
Anthony shrugged. "Let's just say it didn't work out. ~ Amber Kell

All of our ideas come from the natural world: trees equal umbrellas. ~ Wallace Stevens

I did not come into contact with any Muslim before I embraced Islam. I read the Qur'an first and realized no person is perfect, Islam is perfect, and if we imitate the conduct of the Holy Prophet ... we will be successful. ~ Cat Stevens

The very first lesson that I learnt from the Qur'an was the message of unity and peace. ~ Cat Stevens

Our love cannot be measured, it just is. ~ John Paul Stevens