A biography for Devendra Banharthasn’t been written yet.
“Let's take fashion seriously, but not ourselves so seriously. Or reverse that, maybe don't take fashion so seriously, but take yourself seriously. Actually, don't take yourself seriously, that's for sure. So, yeah, take fashion seriously, just not yourself.”
“No one's fearless. We're all full of fear. But can your fear guide you or lean into it, embrace it.”
“I've got a long list of things I consider to be selling out. But amongst that list, one of them is when you make art without putting your guard down.”
“I'm getting older and I'm just coming to terms that I'm stuck with me so I better try to like myself.”
“Something I practice everyday is Tonglin. It's Tibetan for taking and receiving.”
“I'm very lucky my parents were into different kinds of music.”
“I guess I don't want everyone to know what I'm doing every second.”
“I sometimes feel like I should be in the hotel business.”
“Am I a pro-cult person? In no way!”
“I can't tell you how many times I've had a friend tell me, in this tender and discreet voice, 'It's just you and me bro, and I want to tell you the truth: make a record of you and an acoustic guitar. Please. That's what everybody actually likes.' That's so funny to me.”
“I know that there are energies that vibrate frequencies that are so subtle you could say that they exist in a different territory or realm or sphere, and people mistake these frequencies for ghosts.”
“I've always said that musicians are the comics of my generations and comedians are the politicians of my generation.”
“My gadabout days are over.”
“Basho is the great poet of Japan, writing in the second half of the 17th century, but his work is still incredibly fresh.”
“Leigh Bowery is a legend. Everybody loves Leigh Bowery. Everybody should love Leigh Bowery.”
“If you're ever wondering what to wear, just dress like a pumpkin, you're good to go.”
“Growing up in Caracas, Venezuela, the ubiquitous music is salsa, cumbia, merengue, a little bit of samba.”
“I don't even know what a hippy is. I mean, hippy is an evolution of the Sixties movement. A time when people were trying to make a difference, trying to write songs that were political. People grow old. The hippy camp kind of breaks off into different sects.”
“I can see my songs in a movie as long as it's a movie no one will watch.”
“It's embarrassing to quote Gandhi or something, but being the change you want to see in the world is pretty powerful.”