Quotes by Trent Reznor

“When I look at people that I would like to feel have been a mentor or an inspiring kind of archetype of what Id love to see my career eventually be mentioned as a footnote for in the same paragraph, it would be, like, Bowie.”

“I just want something I can never have.”

“Bow down before the one you serve, Youre going to get what you deserve.”

“Ill be there for you, as long as it works for me. I play a game, its called insincerity.”

“My God sits in the back of the limosine. My God comes in a wrapper of cellophane. My God pouts on the cover of the magazine. My Gods a shallow little bitch trying to make the scene.”

It wont give up, it wants me deadGoddamn this noise inside my head

The idea of politics is just so uninteresting to me - Ive never paid much attention to it. I dont believe things can really change. It doesnt matter whos president. Nothing really gets resolved. I dont know. I guess thats not the right attitude to take.

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

I wanted to escape Small Town U.S.A. To dismiss the boundaries, to explore. My life experience came from watching movies, TV, and reading books and magazines. When your culture comes from watching TV everyday, youre bombarded with images of things that seem cool, places that seem interesting, people who have jobs and careers and opportunities.

iTunes kind of feels like Sam Goody to me. I dont feel cool when I go there. Im tired of seeing John Mayers face pop up.

Yeezus, I really love it. I think the sound of it is cool.

When your culture comes from watching TV every day, youre bombarded with images of things that seem cool, places that seem interesting, people who have jobs and careers and opportunities. None of that happened where I was. Youre almost taught to realize its not for you.

When I return to the writing process after being away from it for a while, the first part of it always is being honest with myself: What am I into right now? Is it rock bands and guitars, is it noise, is it dance beats and electronics? Is it space, is it clutter?

Ive always been into computers. When I was getting out of high school and forming my identity musically, all of it was really coming into the fold, computers and drum machines. It felt like, you know, Im in the right place at the right time. I liked the collision.

I doubt Ill ever pay someone to do a remix again, because theres some amazing stuff just coming out of bedrooms.

I have been wildly enthused about gaming since I was younger, and a career path I chose not to go down but did really consider was getting into programming and game design.

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

When David Fincher called me up a few years ago and said, Hey, Id like you to score this film The Social Network, I said, Im flattered, but I really dont have any real experience scoring films, and Id rather not screw it up on a high-profile project. And I like you and I dont want to compromise our friendship.

In my life, I was always floating around the edge of the dark side and saying what if take it a little bit too far, and who says you have to stop there, and whats behind the next door. Maybe you gain a wisdom from examining those things. But after a while, you get too far down in the quicksand.

If I go onstage, I want to give people everything they want and more. Ill wash their car for them on their way out.