138 Quotes by Sufjan Stevens

When I live, I’ll give it all I’ve got.

I’m a very self-conscious person, I think we all are, but I’m especially not very comfortable in my body. I always feel really weird and awkward on the street or on the stage. It has nothing to do with circumstances, it’s just an ongoing psychological state, like white noise.

I quickly learned that you don’t have to be incarcerated by suffering, and that, in spite of the dysfunctional nature of your family, you are an individual in full possession of your life.

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.

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.

That’s really where my heart is, unfortunately – I’m less interested in songwriting and more into just making noise.

My Dad used to say that the balance of the world relied on all of the monks who were living outside of society in creative isolation. I don’t quite understand the ascetic life or the private life or the monastic private life. But I definitely understand privacy’s value.

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.

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.