Top 53 Quotes & Sayings by Brett Dennen

Follow your heart and you won't get lost.

It's usually kids that normally don't have a chance to get to meet each other because they're separated by millions of different things.

Songs don't really feel like me unless I somehow shed a little secret or open myself somehow or be vulnerable. When I'm singing these songs, it feels like me, and that comes with the vulnerabilities and the strengths and the moments of triumph or whatever.

I have ideas for songs all the time, but musical ideas, like melodies, really come out when I'm in nature.

I wanted to be a singer. I wanted to be a musician. I wanted to travel and write songs and be a good songwriter. It came to me slowly after college.

People really respond to the songs when I play them in concert. Every song comes from a different place emotionally or from a different headspace.

I know musicians who think that drumming and guitaring can be very meditative, but singing is different because when you think about things, you put words to them. So I try to just stay present most of the time, I try not to let my mind wander and I also try not to clear my mind. I like to still have thought and be aware of people and whatever that's happening, but I also like to just focus on the words that I'm saying.

I used to want to be fully observational, but I'm just not that kind of writer. My process always changes depending on how, when, and where inspiration stiles me.

I guess it's just my job to somehow balance knowing that every song is going to come differently and be different, but also know that, on the other hand, I am a songwriter and I am a craftsman, and I do have a craft and a technique and a method. So I need to balance the technique and the method.

I love being creative, and for me it doesn't matter what it is - whether it's art or music or just daydreaming.

It's cool to be healthy now! It's cool to, like, drink fresh juices and drink Kombucha and all that stuff.

I think everybody, no matter what they eat, they should eat at least fifty percent raw food. But I eat some seafood.

The ocean inspires me because there's the energy of the water moving.

Everyone wants to know what kind of music their favorite artist listens to. It feels good to. I don't try to dwell on that too much though.

Nature inspires me because it's so peaceful. It makes me have an inward experience. It makes me reflective and nostalgic.

A sunny, happy day is beautiful, but when it's moody, and storm is coming, there's an energy in the air.

Don't forget that love is all you came here for, not anything less. Need I say more?

I'm a very typical yoga-practicing musician; I do it when I can. I'm not hardcore about it. A lot of my lyrics talk about celebrating life and working through pain. I think that's what yoga's about, getting rid of, moving energy and letting it flow through you.

I think there's a certain magic that comes from being creative.

I sing the best when I'm really in my voice. It's kind of like I'm meditating but I sort of imagine my voice as a physical thing. I see colours, I feel it moving out of me and I try to tap into images that I was tapping into when I was writing the song.

I think food is the great equalizer. Other than the ocean and the air, food is the thing that we all share in common. I think along with that comes the question of why are some people starving, and why do some people produce more food than they need, and why is food going to waste.

Pain is part of how I get inspiration and part of how I gain wisdom on life. I guess the point I'm trying to make is that I don't transform it, I just let it be. I kind of let it move through me, let it consume me and I let it take me over and hurt me, and I let it go away when it's ready to go away and I understand that it's just part of the process.

Being a songwriter or a painter you're definitely facing your fears. You're facing your fears because you're speaking your truth; you're speaking from your heart. That's something that's not easy to do, you set yourself up for all sorts of criticism or vulnerability but that's why we do it.

When you get to say something in a song you're not directing it necessarily at one person. When it's in a song it's easier to get it out. I don't really worry so much about it when I'm writing a song.

I think for me to do a traditional sitting meditation I would really have to spend a couple weeks working at it. The only way I know how to efficiently, effectively meditate is by walking in nature.

I'm a big believer in that old cliché of thinking globally and acting locally.

Nothing has happened too fast, nothing has happened too slow. It has been a mellow rise, and I'm thankful for that. I haven't lost my head, and I haven't lost my desire to keep growing.

Pain is a part of life. It's certainly part of my creative process.

I don't wanna limit myself to anything, but I eat like a vegetarian and I eat mostly raw.

Things aren't always as they appear. I've been believing things to be a certain way because I want them to be that way. I build up illusions in my head.

I always liked playing music and I always wanted to be good at playing guitar. I always saw myself as an old man living in the mountains playing a guitar, but I didn't really turn that into a desire to be a professional musician or a singer or a rock star or anything like that.

Every song is completely different. Sometimes they come like a lump of clay and it's your job to chip away and find out what's in the center. Sometimes it comes like swimming fish, and you have to follow it and see where it leads. Sometimes it comes totally fragmented.

I like fish and a lot of seaweed, but I don't eat bread or dairy or anything like that. It's kind of like in the macrobiotic world. I'm just a healthy eater who loves to juice.

I think most artists would agree, it's one thing to be playing in front of a crowd that's loving it, it's another thing to add cameras, but it's a really cool trade off to be on television.

When you're young that's when you feel like you can change the world. Then you get older and you buy a house and have kids, and you don't want to be so bold anymore.

The mountains inspire me because they are just still and they have such a strong, quiet presence that feels very old.

Paul Simon is my absolute hero. He's one of a kind. He wrote his own ticket in life by being himself.

I want to live the way I choose. It's all about happiness. I'm a happy person. But to find true happiness, peace within yourself and the world, that is something achieved in the moment. No matter the circumstance.

I come from a place of sincerity. I write about what I see and feel. I write about what I want, I don't have a political agenda. Politics may enter into a song but it always comes from the heart.

I can't really write unless I'm full of inspiration. And even then I can't write unless I have some alone time.

What I strive to do with songwriting is be really honest, authentic and try to be open and share that with people. I choose that over trying to be clever, poetic, or lyrical.

I can write songs, but I'm not gonna really feel good about the song unless it feels like me, and I'm not gonna release a song or put it on an album or play it in concert unless it really feels like me.

If I hear a really good song it's like, oh man, I want to write a song that good. But the urge to create mostly comes from nature, weather and I think it just effects me.

The people at festivals are much more open to dance and just sing along. They come right up to the stage and they're very thankful. That's one thing I really appreciate about the yoga culture, that the people are very thankful. They come up to you as much as any fan would, but they express sincere gratitude and I appreciate that.

I want to write songs with meaning. I have high standards for my work.

For some reason I can articulate my feelings better in song. I wish it would come out better in regular life too though. The issue is that I struggle with is that I'm worried about what people think, or how they'll react to whatever it is I have to say, and obviously that's not a good thing.

As an artist I write about the world I want to live in. And as a musician and someone who is in the public eye, I think you have this responsibility to influence people. So I try influence people to live from their heart and make conscious decisions , and I try just inspire people to make positive change. That's purely the reason I do it. I want to see the world get better, you know?

I also love fall, when it starts to rain, or even just before the rain - that is the most inspiring thing.

Blessed is this life, I'm gonna celebrate being alive.

Bringing up issues that are hard to deal with is a challenge for me, and I think that's what draws me to song writing.

I'm an avid juicer and a healthy eater.

I think the two biggest issues are world hunger and health, and all the things that stem from bad food.

I think anyone who is an artist or writer or owns their own business or whatever can agree that when you come up with something on your own, it's an addictive feeling.