I don't look at a knife the way I used to. I'm more aware of what it is. I think twice. This is a key finger. It's in every chord.
Neil YoungRead
I just wrote one song at a time. Kinda like an alcoholic. One day at a time.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Creating art requires a focused and gradual approach, akin to managing a struggle.
This quote by Neil Young compares the process of songwriting to the journey of an alcoholic, emphasizing the importance of taking things day by day. It highlights the value of focusing on the present moment in creative endeavors, suggesting that just as one navigates the challenges of addiction one day at a time, artists should approach their work one piece at a time to maintain progress and clarity.
Themes
SongwritingArtCreationProcessOne Day At A Time
In practice
Example use cases
In a workshop about songwriting, this quote could be used to inspire participants to focus on making progress bit by bit.
More from Neil Young
All quotes βI don't force it. If you don't have an idea and you don't hear anything going over and over in your head, don't sit down and try to write a song. You know, go mow the lawn...My songs speak for themselves.
Neil YoungRead
In a Ramada Inn near the grapevine, they stop to rest for the night. Traveling down south, looking for good times. Visiting old friends feels right.
Neil YoungRead
Link Wray... He was the beginning of Grunge, way before anybody you know.
Neil YoungRead
I dreamed I saw the silver spaceships flying in the yellow haze of the sun. There were children crying and colors flying all around the chosen ones.
Neil YoungRead
It's better to burn out, than to fade away.
Neil YoungRead
Similar quotes
Designing is a matter of concentration. You go deep into what you want to do. It's about intensive research, really. The concentration is warm and intimate and like the fire inside the earth - intense but not distorted. You can go to a place, really feel it in your heart. It's actually a beautiful feeling.
Peter ZumthorRead
The difference between a bad artist and a good one is: the bad artist seems to copy a great deal; the good one really does.
William BlakeRead
Australian genre films were a lot of fun because they were legitimate genre movies. They were real genre films, and they dealt, in a way like the Italians did, with the excess of genre, and that has been an influence on me.
Quentin TarantinoRead
I think there's a kind of desperate hope built into poetry that one really wants, hopelessly, to save the world. One is trying to say everything that can be said for the things that one loves while there's still time.
W. S. MerwinRead
Writing is an act of empathy. You are occupying and understanding a point of view that might be alien to your own--and work is often the keyhole through which you peer.
Benjamin PercyRead
My belief of book writing is much the same as my belief as to shoemaking. The man who will work the hardest at it, and will work with the most honest purpose, will work the best.
Anthony TrollopeRead