Quotes About Expression

As a teenager, I was really interested in drama and art. I did painting and drawing. I did some acting and loved theater.

When it's all said and done, jazz with a capital J is where I'm coming from. Dexter Gordon, Billie Holiday, Miles Davis, Charlie Parker, Thelonious Monk - that's what I really studied when I was a teenager and what really fueled my passion.

I did rap when I was a teenager - started rapping when I was nine, and started singing when I was 20. I kinda sing like a rapper would sing.

When I became a teenager, I got very into clothing. I remember cutting Gucci advertisements and sticking them on my wall.

I would say if you're young, if you're a teenager, act in plays, as many plays as you can. It's an amazing way to build your craft and an amazing way to build your presence.

As a teenager, I played men in my first two plays.

I always had a hard time communicating my emotions. I'd retreat into my bedroom and listen to music. And when you're a teenager, you're dealing with all these hormones. It's like, 'What are these?'

I didn't quite fit in in any particular, specific way. I was a gay teenager who was into drama.

I wrote 'Love Is Dead' when I was a super-depressed teenager.

I was a teenager and it was tough years for me. Being able to bring myself into a character and live in somebody else's world was so important for me emotionally. I couldn't express things well in my normal life. I was so overwhelmed by my emotions.

I'm just trying to make the kind of music that I'd listen to as a teenager and forget about all my problems.

I first got into punk music at 17, The Adverts, just from being a bored teenager.

Songs, to me, have always been kind of like a diary, you know - and, say, when I did 'Teenager In Love,' maybe I was 16.

Teenagers are some of the most passionate, dynamic and creative people I know. Yet, too often, this creative spark is left to flicker precariously and sometimes fade entirely.

Grunge gave me a sense of identity, and I remember really associating with 'Silverchair,' who were these chilled-out Australian teenagers. The fact that they were teenagers was a big deal for me. It was like, 'Oh, man, you don't have to be a 30-year-old to do this.'

I was talking to so many teenagers for so long that I started to feel like, 'I have my own story I want to tell, and I need to do it soon.' So I started to store away pieces that eventually became 'Speech & Debate.' I felt this burning need to write it while I still had not only all of the ideas but the passion to do it.

Teenagers are very dark, I think. That's all the goth and emo stuff. They're experiencing a lot of stuff that adults experience, but in a much more raw way. It's that extremity that I'm interested in, to be able to go down so far and come up so quickly.

I wrote things for the school's newspaper, and - like all teenagers - I dabbled in poetry.

I feel like I am a real artist and I want to be able to feel what I am singing about. So when I sing, 'Leave (Get Out),' I have been through that. I think it is just a new generation, whether people are ready for it or not. Teenagers are dating.

Sometimes I worry I'm writing 'Fifty Shades of Grey' for teenagers, but I'm not.

Teenagers are more willing to experiment, and they'll find a way to wear something if they like it.

It can literally change someone's life; it's very positive for young teenagers to get into cosplay if they do it with their friends or with supervision from their parents - it can really foster their social skills.

Come on, we're teenagers. Everything that comes out of our mouth is something that's off. You never say something that's perfect.

When I first came to New York, I was surprised by all these out teenagers who were openly on the street being who they were. That intrigued me because I was 27 and still struggling with being myself.