Johnny Flynn Quotes

Powerful Johnny Flynn for Daily Growth

About Johnny Flynn

Johnny Flynn is a versatile British actor, musician, and writer who has made significant strides in each field since his debut in the early 2000s. Born on September 17, 1983, in Dulwich, London, Flynn was raised in an artistic household, with his father being a theatre director and his mother a painter. This creative upbringing laid the foundation for his diverse career. Flynn began his acting career in 2006, appearing in the British television series 'Troy: Fall of a City'. His breakthrough role came in 2015 when he starred as Lennie James in the BAFTA-winning drama 'Genius'. Flynn's talent has also been recognized on the big screen, with notable performances in 'Beast', 'Emma.', and 'Outlaw King'. As a musician, Johnny Flynn fronts the band Johnny Flynn & The Sussex Wit. His music is rooted in folk tradition but often explores unconventional themes. In 2019, he released his fourth studio album, 'Big Magnet', which showcased his unique songwriting skills and earned critical acclaim. In addition to his acting and musical careers, Flynn has ventured into writing. He wrote and starred in the critically acclaimed play 'The Birthday Party' at London's Almeida Theatre in 2015. His writing also extends to television, where he co-created and co-wrote the dark comedy series 'Lovesick'. Johnny Flynn continues to push boundaries, seamlessly transitioning between acting, music, and writing. His versatility, creativity, and dedication have made him a beloved figure in British arts and entertainment.

Interpretations of Popular Quotes

"The most powerful thing you can be in this world is yourself."

This quote emphasizes the importance of individuality, self-expression, and authenticity. It suggests that to truly make an impact in the world, one must embrace their unique identity and character, rather than attempting to conform or imitate others. Being true to oneself allows for genuine connections, fosters personal growth, and contributes to a more diverse, vibrant, and empathetic society overall.

"Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass, it's about learning to dance in the rain."

This quote emphasizes resilience and the ability to find joy even amidst hardships. Instead of awaiting favorable conditions before living fully, we should learn to adapt and find happiness in challenging situations – akin to dancing in the rain. Life's struggles are unavoidable, but our response to them defines us. Embracing adversity with grace and embracing life with enthusiasm helps us grow stronger and wiser.

"Don't wait until you've reached your destination to start enjoying the journey."

This quote by Johnny Flynn emphasizes the importance of finding joy and pleasure in the process rather than waiting for a specific outcome or end goal to bring happiness. It encourages us to appreciate each moment, step, and experience along our journey towards achieving something significant, rather than focusing solely on the destination itself. The essence of this quote is about living in the present, finding contentment and satisfaction within the progress, and not allowing the pursuit of a dream or goal to overshadow the beauty that lies within the journey itself.

"The more you love, the more you have to lose. But isn't that a chance worth taking?"

This quote implies that embracing love means accepting the inherent risk of potential loss. However, the speaker suggests that such vulnerability is a worthy gamble because love can enrich our lives in profound ways. In other words, the potential pain of losing someone or something loved pales in comparison to the joy and depth of feeling that love brings. It's about the belief that love, despite its risks, offers an essential and rewarding aspect of the human experience.

"Everybody's got a song to sing. Don't let anyone ever tell you yours ain't worth singing."

This quote encourages everyone to embrace their individuality and express themselves freely, implying that every person has a unique voice and perspective worth sharing. It discourages silencing or belittling any person's creativity or personal growth, as each person's experiences contribute to the richness of humanity as a whole.

The truth is there's always a hum of people playing folk music in cities.

- Johnny Flynn

Truth, Always, Folk Music, Hum

Westminster politics is very unattractive, and people are channelling political energy into more inward questioning - there are a lot of musicians whose songs are all about feeling, and it's almost like that's the only safe place to express yourself.

- Johnny Flynn

Politics, Very, Almost, Inward

I'm obsessed with pilgrimages. I love following old routes, imagining the consciousness of those who walked them.

- Johnny Flynn

Love, Old, Obsessed, Routes

Music always gets bumped until I have some time to get around to it.

- Johnny Flynn

Music, Some, Always, Bumped

When I first moved to London, there was talk of a folk revival, with annoying names like nu-folk that made me feel slightly ill.

- Johnny Flynn

London, Like, Slightly, Revival

In my mind, there's usually a fairly definitive kind of narrative when I write. But I don't want to enforce that on other people. I think that's why I like using metaphor so much.

- Johnny Flynn

Other, I Think, I Write, Definitive

I've always identified as an actor. That's what I set out to do.

- Johnny Flynn

Actor, Always, Set, Identified

The world that I know and the world that I come from is from the arts, and my wife's an artist, and I've been a musician since I left college, and there's tons of musicians I'd love to play.

- Johnny Flynn

Love, College, Play, Tons

I did a lot of theater as a young actor in my early twenties, and my first few records really came from writing songs through the rehearsal processes.

- Johnny Flynn

Through, Processes, Twenties, Young Actor

I fell in love with the legend of Paul Robeson as a kid. My dad would tell me all these amazing stories about his life and, bizarrely, ended up singing to Robeson on his deathbed.

- Johnny Flynn

Love, Singing, Stories, Deathbed

I think Bob Odenkirk is phenomenal.

- Johnny Flynn

Think, I Think, Bob, Phenomenal

I grew up playing classical violin and a lot of Bach and Mozart and the things that Einstein loved.

- Johnny Flynn

Loved, Violin, Lot, Mozart

I've never done anything like 'Brotherhood' before. It was a great challenge to take up a part in a live audience sitcom - it was amazing.

- Johnny Flynn

Audience, Like, Before, Live Audience

I actually do bits of my writing in sort of incidental spaces - when I'm traveling on the Tube or on a bus. More often than not, it's a reaction to how you feel about something, and if you're sitting down and concentrating on, 'I must write something,' then you can't have a truthful reaction.

- Johnny Flynn

Bus, About, Concentrating, Spaces

I really love a lot of early Sixties R&B, rock n' roll, and I love performing songs that have that power and soulfulness.

- Johnny Flynn

Love, Performing, Roll, Sixties

It's great being an actor and being part of a play or a film where there's usually quite a big group of people who are collaborating, and your job is really to fit in and share that energy. With music, because I write the songs, it's a broader, more abstract process.

- Johnny Flynn

Play, Big, I Write, Broader

I imagine that, for most people, acting isn't something they think is a viable option, whereas for me, it was the most viable option. No adults around me knew how to do anything else.

- Johnny Flynn

Think, Knew, Imagine, Whereas

The reason I stopped music for a while and concentrated on theatre was that it was more conducive to parenting; having the days free was quite handy. I love them both. I hope I don't have to compromise one for the other.

- Johnny Flynn

Love, Reason, Stopped, Handy

There's something amazing about 'Fawlty Towers' and 'The Office' only being two series. I think, when you really nail it, you don't need to do more than two or three.

- Johnny Flynn

Think, I Think, Nail, Towers

Loads of verses don't make it into the finished song.

- Johnny Flynn

Song, Loads, Finished, Verses

I had a series of jobs in the small fishing village in West Wales where my family lived when I was a teenager. I worked as a fisherman in the day, and then the skipper and his wife ran a small restaurant - she'd cook the fish he caught.

- Johnny Flynn

Small, Caught, Had, Ran

I'm not a fan of taking too long in the studio. I always do one vocal take and jump out of the control room, and people push me back in... It's a real turn-off to hear things that are too polished. I feel like I've almost fought for the right to be that kind of musician - we used to be on a major label, and now we're on an indie.

- Johnny Flynn

Studio, Indie, Major Label, Turn-Off

My guitar is a 1934 National Trojan. They call it a resonator, which is the guitar guys played in the honky-tonks before amplification. It's very loud. It's the type of guitar that Son House and Robert Johnson played.

- Johnny Flynn

Loud, Very, Which, Amplification

If you're trying to do something wholly new, it's hard to fully trust it. But if you use forms that have come before, it lends your music weight and authority. It's also a way to acknowledge that it's not just you who's feeling these things. The emotions are coming through you from a whole history.

- Johnny Flynn

Trust, Through, Wholly, Forms

All the adults in my family were actors, so there wasn't much else in terms of role models. I fell in love with that world, being backstage at the theatre.

- Johnny Flynn

Love, Role, Models, Backstage

I first came across Langhorne Slim when I saw him play live, and he's an incredibly infectious performer. The way he works the crowd is mind-blowing. You can listen to his music without really listening to his lyrics, but it pays off if you do.

- Johnny Flynn

Play, Infectious, Works, Lyrics

I'm a big Bob Dylan fan. I'm also a blues geek.

- Johnny Flynn

Big, Fan, Bob, None

Bob Dylan has and Einstein had their own way of perceiving the universe and translating it for us.

- Johnny Flynn

Own, Translating, Bob, None

I had to learn how to work in a studio at first because it's a totally different creative environment to the 'bedroom recordings' I'd done before, where I could translate my own ideas without having to explain them to anyone.

- Johnny Flynn

Explain, Studio, Before, Bedroom

It's interesting to marry American musical traditions with the subtlety of English-style storytelling and folk singer-songwriters like Martin Carthy and Bert Jansch - they're two heritages that are distinct but also cross over on so many levels.

- Johnny Flynn

Storytelling, Subtlety, Levels

I just said, casually, 'You know, I passed up on auditioning for Einstein.' And my friend was like, 'You idiot, you have to do it!' She made me do it. I sent the tapes off assuming that somebody would say, 'Ha ha, very funny.'

- Johnny Flynn

Very, Tapes, Casually, Einstein

I have a classical music background. I studied violin and trumpet.

- Johnny Flynn

Music, Violin, Background, Classical Music

Not listening is the reason for so many misunderstandings and conflicts.

- Johnny Flynn

Listening, Reason, Conflicts

I think the two are kind of synonymous for me; songwriting is like my form of diary making. It's how I process the world. Without doing that, I feel kind of lost. The characters that I play often come out in the songs and the challenges that they face, albeit in an abstract way.

- Johnny Flynn

Play, Doing, I Think, Synonymous

I'm often the one in my gang of friends who's worried about how we're going to get from A to B. I'm the one running around saying, 'Is somebody going to do something about it?' Everyone else is bit more chilled.

- Johnny Flynn

Around, About, Bit, Worried

When I was young, I was being pushed, against my will, towards becoming a classical musician. I had music scholarships; I had to play the violin and do orchestra practice and that sort of stuff. That meant I didn't get to do any school plays. I desperately wanted to do that.

- Johnny Flynn

Practice, Play, Becoming, Orchestra

I like really bad puns - proper, red-top, nasty puns - I find them funny.

- Johnny Flynn

Bad, Find, Like, Puns

I played trumpet for Noah and the Whale a couple of times.

- Johnny Flynn

Whale, Couple, Times, Noah

Certain films should only be watched at 40,000 feet. Like, certain comedies and certain, uh, emotionally charged movies.

- Johnny Flynn

Feet, Like, Films, Charged

My dad was an actor, and he always said that work was work; you can't turn your nose up at it. We didn't have much money when I was growing up, and he had this real work ethic, which I inherited.

- Johnny Flynn

Turn, Had, Dad, Inherited

It's great to be able to write songs and draw on life, to write truthfully, and to be able to do that, it's good to be exploring other stuff as well.

- Johnny Flynn

Great, Other, Draw, Truthfully

Our job as actors is to invent the things that bridge ourselves with the characters, so you have to build something if it's not there - you try and learn what makes people behave in a certain way.

- Johnny Flynn

Learn, Certain Way, Invent, Bridge

I've been cast in a lot of comedies. I've done things like multi-cam sitcoms: you know, 'Seinfeld' type... not as good as 'Seinfeld,' but that kind of thing. I love that stuff.

- Johnny Flynn

Love, Like, Been, Comedies

The thing I find really special in performance is that there is this slightly mystical thing that takes over when you're responding to a crowd and engaging in people's imaginations collectively in a room. I've always thought that one of the most incredible things about being alive is going to see some kind of performance like that.

- Johnny Flynn

Thought, Some, Slightly, Collectively

I take them both seriously - I don't particularly want to be an 'actor-musician.' I want to play the great challenging parts, to be right for the part, rather than just, 'Oh, he can play the fiddle.'

- Johnny Flynn

Play, Rather, Particularly, Fiddle

Weirdly, my dad didn't want me to become an actor, he was always quite resistant to it. He told me as much many times. That just made it more attractive to me.

- Johnny Flynn

Always, Attractive, Weirdly, Resistant

My only incentive is to write music that changes me, where the process of making it is a discovery and is true in some way, at that moment.

- Johnny Flynn

Process, Some, Making, Incentive

If you're in a garage band, it's about being better than the band in the next-door garage. But in the folk tradition, it's more a vibe of sharing.

- Johnny Flynn

Garage, More, Vibe, Next-Door

I think the truest things come from silence, but everything's always so clogged up with noise. If everything falls away, and you can truly listen to someone, giving them yourself and generosity, you can truly lose yourself in what they're saying. Like, not impose your ideas on what they're saying, but really tune into them.

- Johnny Flynn

Away, I Think, Truest, Noise

My father was an actor. Both of my older brothers are actors. My younger sister is an actress. For me, that's my job; that's my craft. But then all through school and through drama school, I was gigging and running nights and playing in bands, and I just didn't want to let that go.

- Johnny Flynn

Father, Through, Brothers, Nights

I like getting older. I always looked younger than I was, and I found that people wouldn't give me the room to speak. The older I get, it's like, 'Oh, I'm still talking, and they're still listening.'

- Johnny Flynn

Listening, Give, Always, Give Me

Diane Cluck is part of the anti-folk movement in New York. She's got a really haunting voice, and she usually sings in the pentatonic scale.

- Johnny Flynn

Voice, New, Diane, Haunting

It's not in the mainstream media, but across towns, it is amazing how there are small groups of people getting together and forming artistic collectives - they may not be being overtly political, but I'd say by channelling their energy into community projects, that's a valid political statement.

- Johnny Flynn

Small, Projects, Forming, Mainstream Media

We all have these shades in our nature: it's a spectrum within all of us.

- Johnny Flynn

Nature, Shades, Within, Spectrum

The Band mean a lot to me in terms of what I aspire to achieve with my group, as the music they made went against the fashion of the time.

- Johnny Flynn

Achieve, Against, Made, Aspire

Folk music - and what people are now perceiving as being folk music - is music that's quite close to the ground. The songs sound quite old, even if they're new. They sound like they've been sung by different people for years.

- Johnny Flynn

Sound, Years, Been, Sung

In my early twenties, the whole experience of going on tour was like losing myself in this slightly wild environment.

- Johnny Flynn

Going, Slightly, Twenties, Wild

What's quite nice about this whole folk movement is that it's born out of genuine friendship. And nobody's infringing on anybody's space.

- Johnny Flynn

Friendship, Born, Anybody, Genuine

I'm a huge David Hockney fan.

- Johnny Flynn

Fan, Huge, David

I'm married to the girl that I first went out with when I was 16. We were on and off for years; now we're married with a kid, so I don't have that many exes.

- Johnny Flynn

Girl, Kid, Many, On And Off

My thing about demos is that you usually prefer them to the finished thing.

- Johnny Flynn

About, Demos, Prefer, Finished

I'm not that politically educated.

- Johnny Flynn

Educated, Politically

I think everyone in their 30s looks back at their 20s and thinks, 'Oh God, if I'd just done this and this, and not done that.'

- Johnny Flynn

Think, Everyone, I Think, Oh God

We had no money, my dad was out of work a lot, and we never owned a house. It was very hand-to-mouth.

- Johnny Flynn

Never, Very, Lot, Owned

The moment you have children, it's like your heart gets out of your body, puts on clothes, and walks away.

- Johnny Flynn

Away, Like, Your, Your Body

My dad was an actor, and he made it all seem quite magical. It felt like a slightly subversive thing, telling stories, when all of my other friends' parents were builders or bank clerks. It's always seemed quite magical to me.

- Johnny Flynn

Other, Telling, Slightly, Magical

The pop industry is so well-practised at channelling young people's creative energy that I think it gets abused.

- Johnny Flynn

Think, Young, I Think, Creative Energy

You might as well acknowledge what came before, because you can never do something wholly new. It's not unoriginal to make your references clear.

- Johnny Flynn

New, References, Before, Acknowledge

I feel really lucky that I somehow have blagged my way into loads of different experiences. I find making a film fascinating, I find making a play amazing, and working with my band and scoring things... it's all really cool. I'm just a glutton for experience, really.

- Johnny Flynn

Play, Lucky, Feel, Fascinating

I don't really write songs. They're just there anyway, chiseling away at the atmosphere, and suddenly they're like, 'Oh, thanks for coming. Thanks for finding me. We'll share each other now.'

- Johnny Flynn

Other, Away, Atmosphere, Thanks

My dad was working class.

- Johnny Flynn

Working, Class, Dad, Working Class

I can't remember a 'best gig,' and my brain doesn't work in absolute terms like that.

- Johnny Flynn

Remember, Gig, Terms, Absolute

I like the idea of letting the music do its own work and the stories being more expressionful - if that's a word - in people's imagination. I've just got a thing about people and songs telling you how you should feel.

- Johnny Flynn

Own, Idea, Telling, Letting

I find it hugely exciting to be dealing with another writer's language.

- Johnny Flynn

Find, Dealing, Exciting, Hugely

I sometimes self-edit when it comes to auditions and go, 'They're not going to cast me, so I'm not going to do it.'

- Johnny Flynn

Sometimes, Go, Going, Auditions

A lot of the work I've done has involved playing quite sympathetic characters.

- Johnny Flynn

Lot, Characters, Involved, Sympathetic

Taking someone else's language and fitting it into your own speech - you learn a lot about other people's brains, doing that.

- Johnny Flynn

Learn, Doing, Other, Speech

I'm not a funny person.

- Johnny Flynn

Funny, Person, Funny Person

I'm not really interested in myself in my writing. I can't see myself in the songs, even though I know different parts of me are there.

- Johnny Flynn

Myself, Though, Really, Different Parts

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