Culture shouldn't be a pacifying thing. It shouldn't be something that you just passively accept. I think it should be something that, in some ways, is quite disruptive - makes you think and question things, and actually sparks debate. Jarvis Cocker More Quotes by Jarvis Cocker More Quotes From Jarvis Cocker I'm not a religious person but I do like the idea of Sunday as a day set apart from the rest of the week. It's nice to have a period of reflection and have time to think about things. Jarvis Cocker sunday nice religious The things in my songs are the edited highlights of my life. I don't go seeking out strange sexual experiences every day of the week. Jarvis Cocker week strange song Its OK to grow up, just as long as you don't grow old. Face it you are young. Jarvis Cocker growing-up faces long You have to create a bespoke cultural environment. I know this may be a kind of thing that an old person says, but I feel to quite a large extent I was reared by the TV I watched. Jarvis Cocker environment kind A song can't be completely serious if you rhyme melodic with alcoholic. Jarvis Cocker rhyme serious song I don't really care what someone's background is; creativity can come from any background. Jarvis Cocker backgrounds creativity care Human beings aren't meant to be solely consumers - eventually, something has to come out. Otherwise, I don't really see what the point of all that consumption is. The idea behind watching things and listening to things is that it stirs something within you, and hopefully that will stimulate you to then create your own thing. Jarvis Cocker consumption listening ideas France is a republic, and the rules in theory have been made by everyone rather than imposed by a dictatorship or king or whatever. So it's like, we've got to stick to these rules because we made them. Jarvis Cocker dictatorship You don't often hear people say, 'Oh, since he's been taking them drugs, he's such a nice person! He's really come out of his shell, he's really nice, he's blossomed'. Jarvis Cocker drug nice people We've always been a bit out of touch with reality. Jarvis Cocker bits reality You know when you're thinking about what you want to be when you grow up, or how you want your life to pan out. I couldn't imagine anything better than living in a hotel so you'd never have to worry about washing up, making the bed, anything like that, and having a servant to come in and play all your favourite TV programmes. Jarvis Cocker growing-up worry thinking As a shy kid growing up in Sheffield, I fantasized about how it would be great to be famous so I wouldn't actually have to talk to people and feel awkward. And of course, as we all know from fairy stories, when you achieve that ambition, you find out you don't want it. Jarvis Cocker growing-up ambition kids I think basically becoming famous has taken the place of going to Heaven in modern society, hasn't it? That's the place where your dreams will come true. It's an act of faith now; they think that's going to sort things out. Jarvis Cocker taken dream thinking I'm always amazed by people who blog all the time and tweet all the time, and still get things done. I don't know how they do it. Jarvis Cocker tweet done people Paris is like a beautiful woman, but she's very haughty, she's not interested in you. She's very nice to look at but you can't quite get it together with her. Jarvis Cocker nice together beautiful It’s interesting that most gadgets are called ‘iPhone’ and ‘iPod,’ with that ‘i’ prefix, which is ego. But most creativity is not ego-led – a lot of it comes from the unconscious. So if you’re always checking your email or updating your Instagram profile, you’re not just looking out the window, daydreaming. You’ve got to let the subconscious in – that’s my main message to the world. Jarvis Cocker ipods iphone creativity In some ways, I always thought you're better off behaving like a rock star when you're a normal person. Because if you do it as a rock star, you'll end up in the papers and your life will be made a misery. Jarvis Cocker rocks stars paper I recently spent quite a bit of time in Sheffield, England, which is where I'm from. I wouldn't move back there, but it's funny when you spend a bit of time in the place where you were brought up. You kind of realize how that place has had quite a big effect on you or made you a certain way. Jarvis Cocker england funny moving I think that's what all art is for - for people to express what it is to be human. That's the purpose of it. Jarvis Cocker people art thinking Unless you're living on the street and surviving on a diet of discarded turkey drumsticks, there's no point in being gloomy. We've spent too long trying to cheer ourselves up by spending money on brightly coloured things we don't really need. We've stopped using our imaginations. Jarvis Cocker turkeys cheer long