Trent Reznor Quotes

“Any time I sit down and write music, the first part of that is always centering myself and thinking about who I currently am.”

“Anyone who's an executive at a record label does not understand what the Internet is, how it works, how people use it, how fans and consumers interact – no idea. I'm surprised they know how to use e-mail.”

“Apparently, the image of our president is as offensive to MTV as it is to me.”

“As long as it feels valid to me and feels sincere, I'll do what I do under the moniker of Nine Inch Nails if it's appropriate. I would hate to think I would ever be in a position where I'm faking it to get a paycheck.”

“Balance is good, because one extreme or the other leads to misery, and I've spent a lot of my life at one of those extremes.”

“Being a rock & roll star has become as legitimate a career option as being an astronaut or a policeman or a fireman.”

“Being in a band with my wife, I'm very aware of the multitude of ways that can go wrong. We're best friends and are interested in the same things, so it's natural to make music together.”

“Books are better than movies because you design the set the way you want it to look.”

“Fear has governed my life, if I think about it.”

“For me, 'The Social Network' isn't about Facebook. It certainly isn't about how people use it. It's about a flawed character and his pursuit of that grand idea that defines him and validates his life and how far he'll go to get it, and the repercussions that come as a result of that – what he gives up in the process.”

“Frankly, I have always dreaded writing – there always seemed to be pain involved, unpleasant self-examination and a lot of fear.”

“I aspire to make a record that sounds better 10 listens in than it does after two, and still, at 50 listens, you're picking out things that add a depth and a thoughtfulness to it; there's enough in there that you can still be extracting pieces out of it.”

“I believe sometimes you have a choice in what inspiration you choose to follow and other times you really don't.”

“I do actually believe in love. I can't say that I'm 100 percent successful in that department, but I think it's one of the few worthwhile human experiences. It's cooler than anything I can think of right now.”

“I don't even know why I'm saying this in an interview situation, but I always feel like I'm not good enough for some reason. I wish that wasn't the case, but left to my own devices, that voice starts speaking up.”

“I don't have to save rock. I don't even like rock that much.”

“I doubt I'll ever pay someone to do a remix again, because there's some amazing stuff just coming out of bedrooms.”

“I feel uncomfortable because I'm insecure about who I am.”

“I foolishly thought that if I just 'made it' then everything would be okay. And everything wasn't okay.”

“I found that when I was putting my own music out, with my Twitter feed as the pure marketing budget, I'm preaching to the choir.”

“I had to come to terms about becoming an addict, which, for a long time, I lied to myself about the status of until I couldn't lie any more, 'cause I was either going to die or get better.”

“I like the idea of subversively communicating with people... so that you make people see things in different ways.”

“I lived a fairly average, anonymous small-town life till I got the idea to do Nine Inch Nails. Then I locked myself in a studio for a year, and then got off the tour bus two years after that, and I didn't know who I'd turned into.”

“I love David Fincher and I think he's a genius.”

“I realize my goals have gone from getting a record deal or selling another record to being a better person, more well-rounded, having friends, having a relationship with somebody.”

“I realized that I was afraid to really, really try something, 100%, because I had never reached true failure.”

“I really try to put myself in uncomfortable situations. Complacency is my enemy.”

“I think it's easy to make impenetrable music that nobody can get, and you can hide behind that sometimes.”

“I think the reason I was 23 before I ever wrote a song was that I was afraid of testing myself. What would I do if I discovered I didn't have anything to say?”

“I think there's something strangely musical about noise.”