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Creativity Quote by Geddy Lee

"I have a lot of hobbies and I can be very remiss in reminding myself to go down to the basement to work"

About this Quote

Geddy Lee makes creativity sound less like lightning and more like laundry: something you mean to get to, something waiting downstairs. Coming from the bassist and frontman of Rush, a band synonymous with virtuosity and discipline, the line lands as a quiet bait-and-switch. You expect the rock-god mythology of endless obsession; instead you get an almost domestic confession about procrastination, distraction, and the ordinary messiness behind extraordinary output.

The phrasing does a lot of work. “A lot of hobbies” reads like a humblebrag softened into self-critique: the life of a successful musician expands outward, full of interesting diversions, until the core practice that built the career starts competing with the very freedom it earned. “Remiss” is the tell. It’s not “too busy” or “uninspired”; it’s a mild moral failure, a lapse in stewardship of his own talent. That word makes artistry feel like a responsibility, not a mood.

Then there’s the basement: not a romantic studio, not a stage, but a private, slightly hidden workspace. It suggests the unglamorous truth of craft: repetition, solitude, and the kind of focus you have to choose on purpose. The subtext is aging without melodrama. Post-peak legacy artists often talk about chasing inspiration; Lee talks about remembering where the work happens. The intent isn’t to demystify music so much as to humanize it: the battle isn’t against critics or trends, it’s against your own comfort and the seductive ease of doing anything else.

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APA Style (7th ed.)
Lee, Geddy. (2026, January 15). I have a lot of hobbies and I can be very remiss in reminding myself to go down to the basement to work. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/i-have-a-lot-of-hobbies-and-i-can-be-very-remiss-146446/

Chicago Style
Lee, Geddy. "I have a lot of hobbies and I can be very remiss in reminding myself to go down to the basement to work." FixQuotes. January 15, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/i-have-a-lot-of-hobbies-and-i-can-be-very-remiss-146446/.

MLA Style (9th ed.)
"I have a lot of hobbies and I can be very remiss in reminding myself to go down to the basement to work." FixQuotes, 15 Jan. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/i-have-a-lot-of-hobbies-and-i-can-be-very-remiss-146446/. Accessed 6 Feb. 2026.

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I have a lot of hobbies and can be very remiss in reminding myself
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About the Author

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Geddy Lee (born July 29, 1953) is a Musician from Canada.

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