No one can fill those of your needs that you won't let show.
Bill WithersRead
I write and sing about whatever I am able to understand and feel. I feel that it is healthier to look out at the world through a window than through a mirror. Otherwise, all you see is yourself and whatever is behind you.
Interpretation
The quote emphasizes the importance of looking outward to understand the world rather than being self-absorbed.
Bill Withers expresses a profound insight about creativity and perception. By choosing to 'look out at the world through a window,' he suggests that artists and individuals can gain a richer perspective by engaging with their surroundings and experiences, rather than being trapped in their own reflections. This idea promotes empathy, awareness, and a broader understanding of life, contrasting the limiting nature of focusing solely on oneself.
In practice
In a speech about personal growth, one could quote this to encourage embracing new experiences.
No one can fill those of your needs that you won't let show.
Sometimes in our lives we all have pain. We all have sorrow. But if we are wise we know that there's always tomorrow.
Lean on me, when you're not strong and I'll be your friend, I'll help you carry on.
I feel that it is healthier to look out at the world through a window than through a mirror. Otherwise, all you see is yourself and whatever is behind you.
I write and sing about whatever I am able to understand and feel.
It's important that a film is loud and I hope many people agree. You should be inside of a film when you go into a theater. It should surround you, envelope you, so you can live inside a dream.
Movies aren't finished, they're abandoned. And you have to make your peace with that.
I just want to see more women in film and behind the camera. I'm tired of seeing movies from one perspective.
I write a song because I want to. I think the moment you start writing it to make money, you're starting to kill yourself artistically.
There's only two givens with choosing acting as a profession: one is you will always be unemployed, always, and it doesn't matter how much money you make, you're still always going to be unemployed; and that you have no power.
What can art really do in the face of atrocity?
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