Quotes by Nick Cave
I've spent my life butting my head against other people's lack of imagination.
I've always had an obligation to creation, above all.
I love rock-n-roll. I think it's an exciting art form. It's revolutionary. Still revolutionary and it changed people. It changed their hearts. But yeah, even rock-n-roll has a lot of rubbish, really bad music.
The concept of God in America is very different than it is in England. Because we see the horrendous outcome of religion as being an American thing, in which the name of God has been hijacked by a gang of psychopaths and bullies and homophobes, and the name of God has been used for their own twisted agendas.
I love performing. I can get to be that person I always wanted to be - godlike.
The idea of songwriting is a transformative thing, and what I do with songwriting is take situations that are quite ordinary and transform them in some way. Apart from things like the murder ballads, the songs I write, at their core, are quite ordinary human concerns, but the process of writing about them transforms them into something else.
I just want to leave this world with a massive catalog of songs.
As Australians, we see the law as inherently bad. We have a real inherent distaste for authority in our makeup.
It's always a pleasure on a personal note for me to come back to Australia.
If you took love out of the equation, I wouldn't know what else to write about.
I'm not a misogynist, so you can dispense with that. I think I've done wonders for the feminist movement.
An artist's duty is rather to stay open-minded and in a state where he can receive information and inspiration. You always have to be ready for that little artistic Epiphany.
I always thought my records were number one; it's just the charts didn't think so.
I've always worn suits. To me they're a very practical kind of thing to wear. You put one on and don't really have to think about what you're going to wear.
At the end, we're kind of observers - creative people, I mean. I feel like an observer, and I'm pretty much able to step out of things and see how things are playing out.
I love being manipulated by what I see. I love weepies and romantic comedies where you're reaching for the Kleenex at the right moment.
I'm not in the business of telling people what to do. I'm much more in the business of describing things, situations and stuff like that and leaving them out there, and you can make up your minds about them.
My muse is my wife. It's not some vague thing that flutters around the astrosphere or wherever it is. Sometimes as a songwriter you need something to hang a song on, to give it some kind of presence and form. For me, Susie is that.
I suspect the older you get the more invisible you become.
I have a particular dislike for children's films. I'm way past the novelty aspect.
Songwriting, I have to take myself away from everybody to do. It's an unsightly act.
I have an armchair interest in gardening, but I don't like to get my knees dirty. I don't have a garden.
Writing screenplays makes me a better musician because it clears my head. After writing a movie, I go running back to music as fast as I can.
What you're really after when you see a film or listen to a song is a singular vision, and I'm not sure how much of that you really get in Hollywood.
No, I wouldn't direct a movie, no. I couldn't. I don't have the patience for it, I don't have the people skills. You have to be clever. I'm not really clever in that kind of way. And you have to be able to manipulate people, but at the same time allow them to feel like they are manipulating you, to get the kind of movie that you want.
