Devendra Banhart Quotes

Now everybody knows about this thing that's my secret. It was my thing, the music I turned to when I was alone and needed it. It's what helps me get through these times. It's just between me and music, and now it's been shared with the world.

Africa. There are a gazillion different languages people speak there, different bone structures, so vast and different.

"I meditate." That's like saying "I eat." Think of all the food there is! And there are almost as many varieties of mediation.

I like California a lot. There's a lot of space, but it's actually the most populated place in the nation.

You've got to be in a place where you can put your guard down. I've got a long list of things I consider to be selling out. But amongst that list, one of them is when you make art without putting your guard down.

Of course, before the internet people found records, too. You can still do it. It's just that people like to make the least amount of effort as possible.

There are plenty of things in vaults that didn't sell in its time. So much stuff. But slowly these companies start to get a hint that these things have some value.

I'm one of those people that if you're told that if you put your hand in the fire, you'll burn your hand, I won't listen.

Some people like to say serendipitous. I like to say magical.

I see so many little boys I wanna marry, I see plenty little kids I've yet to have.

I hate having my photograph taken and I try to keep that in mind when I'm photographing other people. But the best photos that I've taken are the ones when people have forgotten that I'm there. If I'm in a recording studio with a musician, for example, maybe I'm not photographing them in the middle of a take but I can just get that stolen moment of them resting and they glance over to me.

If you have sensitivity then mysticism will be part of your life. It's a very beautiful thing and a very real thing but it's not something to not take seriously and it's not something to take seriously.

In my little world, I'm very protected 'cause I'm treated like the idiot I am by my buddies. But, a little bit outside that world, people sometimes expect heavy things from me. For a little time, I tried to appease and not disappoint people but in the end you're just going to kill yourself and fail if you're trying to give more than you are.

I always wanted to move to New York because of the Velvet Underground, because of the picture that they painted of New York City.

I've always wanted to write a song that goes, "I love you" and a book that goes, "Something happened." Something very direct.

I heard somebody say that the war ended today, but everybody knows it's going still.

I've always noticed talking about lyrics is like talking about a duality. It's like a Gemini time every time I talk about one line. Because each line, of course, means different things to different people, millions of interpretations. With me, I always see two sides. I just see things split into two.

You have to collaborate with the moment and the environment. It kind of was magnified by the house being a studio.

As anthropomorphic and surreal people have said my early writing was, to me it was really stock and almost banal in the sense that it was just description, the poetry of comparing: "Your feet are like A, and your eyes like B."

When I go to vote for anything, I always pencil in the proposition to return California and Texas to Mexico. I'm the one person that's voting for that one.

I think five percent of all songs can be love songs, and another five percent can be miscellaneous or political, but the rest should just be about medieval feminists.

Cripple crow say something for our grieving, where do we go once we start leaving. Well close that wound or else keep on bleeding and change your tune, it's got no meaning.

Trying to find comfort in perpetual discomfort has been my life's work.

I get to swim in the ocean every single day, which is a very, very important thing to do to stay connected.

Within America, there are extremely different place. I'm not saying it's one homogenous color. It's obviously an incredible place. There's no other place like it, and it's incredibly diverse.

People want to be successful, and they want to be acknowledged for what they do. Sometimes they make really great art and aren't. Historically, the best artists weren't. But their work survived.

And because my teeth don't bite, I can take them out dancing I can take my little teeth out and show them a real good time

I do think that music videos have a huge impact on the way you listen to music.

I cannot wait for all the mistakes we have yet to make

I didn't want to make a record that was just guitar and voice, that was just the technology available to me. At the time, I remember thinking, "I am making a Faust album." That didn't translate.

It only takes one profound experience to change somebody's life.

The best New York in the world is driving down the [Pacific Coast Highway] listening to the Velvet Underground. That's the best time I've ever been to New York.

There is something to mystery. You make up this entire world that you fit into because of what the actual music does to you.

When real work happens and that's when real art happens.

There are so many bad songs that have incredible videos. It's pretty amazing, actually. The power of putting images to music is hypnotizing. It's a real power. That's a realm that I've failed at completely.

Having friends who are records nerds - that's the best thing you can do, have a record-geek friend to take you far.

I find Mexico exciting to visit, but I think [it] is looked down upon. Mexico is not a very respected place, unless you're Mexican, and even then it's something of a love/hate relationship.

Now if I lived in my land, which I do, if I lived in Iceland, if I lived in Greensland I'd still have Chinese children, but out of my ears my little grey baby hears.

We live in an age where many things are working hard to conk us out and anesthetize us. Anything we can do to shake us out of that- with no other purpose than to wake us- is valuable.

Good art doesn't really have an expiration date on it. That's something to be happy about, if you're making art.

I know some people really try to avoid music when they're writing and recording, but I am very inspired by so many different musicians, and I need to learn. I sit around and try to play along to certain songs that I really love. It helps you explore new territory. I don't think I listen to enough.