“’A’ comes from Artist. And ‘Boogie’ from the Bronx. ‘The Hoodie’ part came from just having a hoodie on a lot.”
― A Boogie wit da Hoodie
“I started off throwing out ‘Artist.’ I made that my first mixtape. Then, I threw out ‘TBA,’ which means ‘To Be Announced.’”
― A Boogie wit da Hoodie
“I never knew Artist was going to get this big. When I was making it, I put my all into it. But you never know what’s going to happen with something you make.”
― A Boogie wit da Hoodie
“A lot of people don’t know that: that Artist is my name.”
― A Boogie wit da Hoodie
“Why do you think my name is Artist? I’m an artist.”
― A Boogie wit da Hoodie
“Its crazy: my name is Artist, and I dead can’t even paint.”
― A Boogie wit da Hoodie
“I want to be a real artist to consumers. I want to be the real thing for them.”
― Aaron Carter
“I think with anything where you delve into the back story of an artist, it kind of explains their work more intimately.”
― Aaron Taylor-Johnson
“I really admire people that do more than one thing. That’s sort of the goal, right – to be an artist that can work in any medium. That’s what I hope for my career.”
― Abbi Jacobson
“If anything can be art, then anyone can be an artist.”
― Abbi Jacobson
“My mum is an artist and very into creative expression and freedom.”
― Abbie Cornish
“The highest art is always the most religious, and the greatest artist is always a devout person.”
― Abraham Lincoln
“A musician must make music, an artist must paint, a poet must write, if he is to be ultimately at peace with himself.”
― Abraham Maslow
“Only a bad artist thinks he has a good idea. A good artist does not need anything.”
― Ad Reinhardt
“The artist finds, that the more he can confine his attention to a particular part of any work, his productions are the more perfect, and grow under his hands in the greater quantities.”
― Adam Ferguson
“I like Jaykae. He’s a great artist, and I absolutely love Dr. Dre’s album and a bit of Calvin Harris now and then.”
― Adam Peaty
“I’ve never really had the desire to be a front person or a solo artist. I don’t really create that much of a hierarchy in my mind.”
― Adam Schlesinger
“I think it’s shameful when you sell out. It depends what kind of artist you wanna be, but I don’t want my name anywhere near another brand.”
― Adele
“I want to go and see things as a fan again. I am a fan, but I can’t remember what it feels like to be a fan anymore. Because I’ve become an artist. I’ve become the artist.”
― Adele
“As an actor, you just like to be able to play as much range. I just want to be invisible. I want to be able to be perceived as an artist as opposed to ‘a black actor’: that’s the joy.”
― Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje
“Music reflects an artist’s feelings and their experiences.”
― Adnan Sami
“My early comics are really reflective of being kind of a befuddled, single loser in the Bay Area, and I think having kids has been by far the most profound impact on me as a person and as an artist.”
― Adrian Tomine
“I wanted to be as invisible as possible as an artist. I wanted to differentiate between myself and who I’m writing about.”
― Adrian Tomine
“To be perfectly honest, if it was up to me, I would be invisible as an artist.”
― Adrian Tomine
“As a freelance artist, you have to please somebody instead of just making music. But when the employer trusts and leans on you to determine what is right for a scene or feeling, that’s ideal.”
― Adrian Younge
“Before I began concentrating on writing, in my free time I was an artist, making and selling etchings illustrating stories based on my readings in classical literature.”
― Adrienne Mayor
“The artist never entirely knows. We guess. We may be wrong, but we take leap after leap in the dark.”
― Agnes de Mille
“Any material may be used but the theme is the same and the response is the same for all artwork… we all have the same concern, but the artist must know exactly what the experience is. He must pursue the truth relentlessly.”
― Agnes Martin
“Hands are the tool of the painter, the artist.”
― Agnes Varda
“When I first heard Ray Charles, he was a flop artist on a small label in California. He hadn’t sold any records. And I bought his contract for $2,500.”
― Ahmet Ertegun
“To protect the right of expression is the central part of an artist’s activity… In China many essential rights are lacking, and I wanted to remind people of this.”
― Ai Weiwei
“The majority of people, especially young people, know Dr. Dre because of Beats by Dre, not necessarily from him being a rap artist.”
― Aja Brown
“I want to write. I want to direct. I want to produce – I want to inhabit what I think it means to fully be an artist.”
― Aja Naomi King
“I’m just a manga artist, so I can’t stand being scrutinized.”
― Akira Toriyama
“What kind of morons do you have working at newspapers in Austin that would base an entire review of an artist’s performance on whether or not they had a good seat?”
― Al Yankovic
“As an artist, as an actor, as a writer, you have to use what’s personal to you. You have to be personal about your work; otherwise, it doesn’t ring true.”
― Alan Alda
“But I found that being an artist and doing accurate work is very difficult.”
― Alan Bean
“If you’re writing for yourself as an artist, you are always pulling on your own experiences.”
― Alan Menken
“Howard Ashman was an amazing lyricist and an amazing artist.”
― Alan Menken
“If the audience knew what they wanted then they wouldn’t be the audience, they would be the artist.”
― Alan Moore
“Folk rock was my real roots. I did a few gigs as a folk artist, in the style of Fairport Convention.”
― Alan Parsons
“I’m a liability to them – I’m a woman, I’m empowered, I’m an artist. I’ve had executives who can’t come to my shows they’re so scared of me. I’ve been a thorn in many people’s sides just by existing.”
― Alanis Morissette
“I find as an artist if I’m not expressed relatively consistently, I get really depressed.”
― Alanis Morissette
“The only really committed artist is he who, without refusing to take part in the combat, at least refuses to join the regular armies and remains a freelance.”
― Albert Camus
“Every man, and for stronger reasons, every artist, wants to be recognized. So do I.”
― Albert Camus
“Every artist preserves deep within him a single source from which, throughout his lifetime, he draws what he is, and what he says. When the source dries up, the work withers and crumbles.”
― Albert Camus
“I am enough of an artist to draw freely upon my imagination.”
― Albert Einstein
“True art is characterized by an irresistible urge in the creative artist.”
― Albert Einstein
“Within two weeks of working with her, I realized how good she was for the role because she was absolutely with it and she has got terrific instincts, I think, as an artist, too.”
― Albert Finney
“In every work of art the subject is primordial, whether the artist knows it or not. The measure of the formal qualities is only a sign of the measure of the artist’s obsession with his subject; the form is always in proportion to the obsession.”
― Alberto Giacometti
“The artist is chosen by God to fulfill his commands and must never be overwhelmed by public opinion.”
― Albrecht Durer
“A true artist is always out of his time.”
― Alejandro Jodorowsky
“To be an artist, you need to play inside your work.”
― Alejandro Jodorowsky
“I am an honest artist.”
― Alejandro Jodorowsky
“Every person, every artist makes his life an artwork.”
― Alejandro Jodorowsky
“I’m an artist at heart.”
― Alek Wek
“It is the artist who realizes that there is a supreme force above him and works gladly away as a small apprentice under God’s heaven.”
― Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
“Other than the ‘Sesame Street’ soundtrack, which I was obsessed with, the first artist I really felt I’d discovered on my own was Amy Winehouse. She was the first female artist I wanted to write like and sing like and be like.”
― Alessia Cara
“When I was really young, I was convinced I wanted to be a visual artist. I would paint and draw and make crafts.”
― Alessia Cara
“When you give your all as an artist, and all people can talk about is what pants you’re wearing, it’s really frustrating.”
― Alessia Cara
“The inner artist is not the voice of reason. The inner artist can have wild and impossible ideas… The inner artist is not the voice of comfort.”
― Alex Grey
“To an engineer, good enough means perfect. With an artist, there’s no such thing as perfect.”
― Alexander Calder
“Though the artist must remain master of his craft, the surface, at times raised to the highest pitch of loveliness, should transmit to the beholder the sensation which possessed the artist.”
― Alfred Sisley
“Every picture shows a spot with which the artist has fallen in love.”
― Alfred Sisley
“I am not a painter, nor an artist. Therefore I can see straight, and that may be my undoing.”
― Alfred Stieglitz
“As an artist, sometimes you’d rather not do the interview. You might feel the interviewer isn’t educated on you… or what you’re about.”
― Ali Shaheed Muhammad
“My favorite thing as a performing artist is to get a pile of raw material from a writer who says, ‘Will you help me make this real?’ There’s nothing like starting from scratch.”
― Alice Ripley
“I’m a contemporary artist and I show in art galleries and museums. I show a number of photographs and films, but I also make television programs, books and some appetizing, all with the same concept.”
― Alison Jackson
“There are a lot of people who can now see me as an artist for the first time.”
― Alison Moyet
“I never had this idea, ‘I wanna be a solo artist.’”
― Alissa White-Gluz
“I love Emma Watson’s makeup a lot. I love Cate Blanchett. I’m biased, though. I love my makeup artist, Julie Harris; she is really phenomenal, but everyone has their technique, and there are incredible-looking girls out there.”
― Allison Williams
“Just as the bird sings or the butterfly soars, because it is his natural characteristic, so the artist works.”
― Alma Gluck
“The real artist has no idea that he is sacrificing himself for art. He does what he does for one reason and one reason only-he can’t help doing it.”
― Alma Gluck
“I think I’ll continue to work as a solo artist.”
― Alvin Lee
“I think what’s important, as an artist who wants to be multi-dimensional, is learning how to shape-shift into those different paths fluidly and frequently.”
― Alyson Stoner
“I’ve dated the sweet mama’s boy, the musician rocker, the struggling artist – basically a lot of people without jobs.”
― Alyssa Milano
“For us Africans, literature must serve a purpose: to expose, embarrass, and fight corruption and authoritarianism. It is understandable why the African artist is utilitarian.”
― Ama Ata Aidoo
“I would like to say a few things about that photo in ‘Tatler’. I have no regrets. The article was about the 20 cleverest people in England, covered up only by the thing that makes them clever. A saxophonist, for example, had only his saxophone, and an artist, his easel. So I was covered by books.”
― Amanda Foreman
“I think fashion, mishandled, can be quite toxic. It becomes about image and the cult of celebrity. I think when an artist is seen at a lot of parties as a celebrity, I find that worrying. I think it can limit them.”
― Amanda Harlech
“I’m an artist through and through.”
― Amanda Seales
“As an artist, it’s incredible to see folks see you and then be able to give that back and to be able to send two girls to a Black Girls Empowerment camp.”
― Amanda Seales
“I want to be an artist. I don’t want to be a celebrity.”
― Amber Heard
“In f(x), when I’m doing K-pop, that’s cool – that’s our concept. But me, as a solo artist, I’m just me. I’m gonna wear my jeans, my Jordans, and I’m just gonna be a little stupid on stage.”
― Amber Liu
“The black artist’s role in America is to aid in the destruction of America as he knows it.”
― Amiri Baraka
“I’m not a mass-appeal artist.”
― Amos Lee
“The one artist who actually had influence over me was Bo Bartlett.”
― Amy Sherald
“Becoming an artist is not empirical; it’s not about hard work. You have to put the work in, but that doesn’t mean you’re going to make it.”
― Amy Sherald
“In Germany, you have a huge official memorial to the murdered Jews and then you have this artist who’s been putting these stumbling blocks, these brass cobblestones, outside the houses Jews were taken away from. It’s somewhat controversial and has met some resistance.”
― Amy Waldman
“Here in England, everyone’s a pop star, innit, whereas in America they believe in the term artist.”
― Amy Winehouse
“I was just, like, not at all the office type; I was the artist type.”
― Ana Castillo
“As an artist, you’re taking your experiences and placing them into your art. So the more experiences you have, the richer your art and more people can relate to it.”
― Anderson Paak
“I’m a natural born fighter, so this is what I do, and it’s normal. It’s natural. It’s what I’ve always done as a martial artist, and as a martial artist, it’s what I always wanted to do – test myself and always fighting. It’s what I’m meant to do.”
― Anderson Silva
“I’m an artist, but, as I get older, I really want to do philanthropic work and help people.”
― Andie MacDowell
“I always knew I wanted to be a performance artist.”
― Andra Day
“The crucial discovery was made that, in order to become painting, the universe seen by the artist had to become a private one created by himself.”
― Andre Malraux
“An artist must be a reactionary. He has to stand out against the tenor of the age and not go flopping along.”
― Andre Maurois
“The feeling of an evolution is a constant for every artist who is pursuing the search of refinement and enlargement of his/her own means of expression.”
― Andrea Bocelli
“I think any artist is a perfectionist by their nature.”
― Andrea Riseborough
“I’m an artist; affirmation is like catnip to me.”
― Andrea Riseborough
“An artist is nothing without his or her obsessions, and I have mine.”
― Andres Serrano
“I am just an artist.”
― Andres Serrano
“I am an artist first and a photographer second.”
― Andres Serrano
“I think you could go back to any filmmaker or musician or artist, and look at what their input was in their formative years, and you could trace all the lines.”
― Andrew Stanton
“The relationship between the public and the artist is complex and difficult to explain. There is a fine line between using this critical energy creatively and pandering to it.”
― Andy Goldsworthy
“As an artist, you have an opportunity to get in and move things around in people.”
― Andy Grammer
“I spent a lot of time on my own working out the physical vocabulary for how Gollum moved. As I say, I drew on a lot of Tolkein’s descriptions of how he moves, but also the conceptual artist sketches.”
― Andy Serkis
“Before I became an actor, I was a visual artist, and I’ve always hankered for the storytelling behind the camera.”
― Andy Serkis
“I discovered that it was a lonely world being a solo artist. Then I started working with another solo artist, Rod Stewart, and he used to tell me how lonely he was!”
― Andy Taylor
“An artist is somebody who produces things that people don’t need to have.”
― Andy Warhol
“Voyeurism is a director’s job description. It’s an artist’s, too.”
― Andy Warhol
“I want to be an artist you cannot categorize at all. You can’t put a box around me. You can’t put anything around me.”
― Angel Haze
“The artist in me welcomes another opportunity to be creative.”
― Angela Robinson
“It is a joy to be an artist, but it doesn’t mean very much unless that work is somehow useful in some way and contributes to others.”
― Angelina Jolie
“I love Jay personally and as an artist; I think he’s incredible.”
― Angie Martinez
“As an artist, program directors always want to put you in a little box.”
― Angie Stone
“We live in a fractured world. I’ve always seen it as my role as an artist to attempt to make wholeness.”
― Anish Kapoor
“I feel the symbolic world is the nub of a problem for an artist.”
― Anish Kapoor
“I’m not an artist who has an agenda that’s set by the work.”
― Anish Kapoor
“I’ve always felt that if one was going to take seriously this vocation as an artist, you have to get beyond that decorative facade.”
― Anish Kapoor
“It’s the role of the artist to pursue content.”
― Anish Kapoor
“One must not believe any of those mythologies about oneself as an artist.”
― Anish Kapoor
“That freedom that Picasso afforded himself, to be an artist in a huge number of ways, seems to be a huge psychological liberation.”
― Anish Kapoor
“If you are the record label who owns Lady Gaga, and you have a new artist coming up, you can say, ‘Let’s have the artist play just before Gaga.’ Now you’ve exposed the huge Gaga audience to the new artist. It’s similar to showing a trailer before a movie. The hit creates a hit.”
― Anita Elberse
“An artist has to know who she is and to be consistent in building her career.”
― Anitta
“I am thrilled to be working with Alex Sanchez as the artist on ‘Katana.’ His work is wildly eclectic, exciting and powerful, yet slyly humorous, which is a perfect match for Katana.”
― Ann Nocenti
“My go-go dancing was not your typical go-go dancing: I really was doing performance art. I would do dramatic, elaborate lyricals across the bar. I learned a lot, actually, as an artist during that time.”
― Annaleigh Ashford
“Romanticizing the act of writing or any other art is not very helpful to the artist or the art. It’s much better if one simply does.”
― Anne Roiphe
“There is no such thing as an artist – only the world, lit or unlit, as the world allows.”
― Annie Dillard
“Tupac is huge; he’s an inspiration. Arguably, he’s probably the biggest, most analyzed and loved artist of all time.”
― Annie Ilonzeh
“I have different hats; I’m a mother, I’m a woman, I’m a human being, I’m an artist and hopefully I’m an advocate. All of those plates are things I spin all the time.”
― Annie Lennox
“It’s not fair to compare one artist to another because they all come with their own sort of elements to the picnic, you know.”
― Annie Lennox
“Every artist has to make their own statements and they have to live with them.”
― Annie Lennox
“As a transgendered artist, I have always occupied a place outside of the mainstream. I have gladly paid a price for speaking my truth in the face of loathing and idiocy.”
― Anohni
“My being bought as a politically outspoken artist is a more potent advertising tool for Apple than a 100 more explicit ads.”
― Anohni
“Artists have different responsibilities in different eras. But at this point, I really feel like it’s all hands on deck. An artist that’s fiddle-faddling in opaque, gossamer gestures – I mean it’s fine to do that, totally fine, but there’s no time left. We don’t have the luxury of time anymore.”
― Anohni
“As an artist, you tend to identify your sphere of influence and try to employ that as best you can to hopefully be useful.”
― Anohni
“There have been points in my life as an artist where I have wanted to capture people’s attention, probably to compensate for times when I felt invisible.”
― Anohni
“What does the artist do? He draws connections. He ties the invisible threads between things. He dives into history, be it the history of mankind, the geological history of the Earth or the beginning and end of the manifest cosmos.”
― Anselm Kiefer
“History speaks to artists. It changes the artist’s thinking and is constantly reshaping it into different and unexpected images.”
― Anselm Kiefer
“Not content, but the road the artist takes, is the interesting part.”
― Anselm Kiefer
“Doing graphic novels is cool! It’s fun! You get to write something, and then see it visually page by page, panel by panel, working with the artist, you get to see it fleshed out.”
― Anthony Bourdain
“Why is there such vanity about hair? I make a point to bathe. I worry about boogers in my nose, and I ask the makeup artist to cover up my pimples, but beyond that, I try not to be too vain.”
― Anthony Edwards
“Creatively, I’d like to achieve not only being an artist, but being a businessman and having my own music home.”
― Anthony Hamilton
“In Europe an actor is an artist. In Hollywood, if he isn’t working, he’s a bum.”
― Anthony Quinn
“If you’re an artist, it’s OK to put your money into your art. The advantage, in hindsight, is that you become the film, and the film becomes you; you breathe it.”
― Anton Corbijn
“I wanted to make a film as an artist, and it’s going to have to find an audience, you know. I don’t know how big the audience will be.”
― Anton Corbijn
“I completely take on the risk, the poker game, which being an artist means, and I’m going to try to make a film which honestly reflects what I have in my head.”
― Antonio Banderas
“I’m very receptive to direction, to change, and to developing myself as an artist and human.”
― Aquaria
“Be your own artist, and always be confident in what you’re doing. If you’re not going to be confident, you might as well not be doing it.”
― Aretha Franklin
“As an artist, I will always give art more importance and preference than pure entertainment.”
― Arfi Lamba
“I want to be a recording artist for my whole entire life. But Broadway is something I would come back to at any given moment. I love, love, love doing theater.”
― Ariana Grande
“I like to find an artist who inspires me and get into their world and challenge them.”
― Ariel Rechtshaid
“The poet, being an imitator like a painter or any other artist, must of necessity imitate one of three objects – things as they were or are, things as they are said or thought to be, or things as they ought to be. The vehicle of expression is language – either current terms or, it may be, rare words or metaphors.”
― Aristotle
“As an artist, I am for non-film music as well. I want that to shine as much as Bollywood.”
― Armaan Malik
“It’s an artist’s choice to listen to criticism or not. I’m very sensitive to criticism.”
― Armin van Buuren
“Some prescient American collectors, including Vicki and Kent Logan and Mera and Donald Rubell, began collecting Chinese art before 2000 with a genuine passion, but as the auction prices exploded everyone was beating a path to the galleries and artist studios in China. It became the ‘China thing.’”
― Arne Glimcher
“I was an actor as a kid in Boston. Then I went to art school with Brice Marden, the Massachusetts College of Art. So the hybrid of being an actor and artist is a director.”
― Arne Glimcher
“Any artist manages his own business along with his manager. Every band should.”
― Art Alexakis
“Paul is a very creative artist but I’m more that thorough, meticulous, disciplined nut.”
― Art Garfunkel
“The artist likes to seem totally responsible for his work. Often he begins to explain it, to make it appear as if it were a reasonable process.”
― Arthur Erickson
“The scientist and the artist are both passionate about their exploration. What leads to my work is that I’m equally an artist and an engineer.”
― Arthur Ganson
“An uninspiring canvas becomes a glamorous masterpiece when it is reattributed to a better-known artist.”
― Arthur Smith
“If I was just to shut up, I wouldn’t be a true artist.”
― ASAP Ferg
“I’m not a manufactured artist. Nobody taught me how to be a proper artist.”
― ASAP Ferg
“Gulzarbhai is a very special artist.”
― Asha Bhosle
“I’m very hard on myself as an artist to begin with, so I personally don’t even think I have the proper chops to sell a record, but people think differently.”
― Ashleigh Murray
“Being called a new artist doesn’t bother me at all.”
― Ashley McBryde
“The cultured man is an artist, an artist in humanity.”
― Ashley Montagu
“Whatever the download thing has done to the game, you as an artist can get yourself out there to the masses, off your own back.”
― Ashley Thomas
“Kollywood is my parent film industry. It was here that I was born as an actress and grew as an artist.”
― Asin
“It is rare for an artist to get acceptance by the north as well as the south audiences, and I have thankfully managed that.”
― Asin
“I’m from Brooklyn, New York. I’m a hip-hop artist. That’s just that. You’re going to have to accept me or just not be a fan, I guess.”
― Astro
“I’ve been writing way before ‘X Factor,’ and I’ve been doing shows before ‘X Factor.’ And everything I did on this show was me being me. Same way I acted in the show is the same way I act now as an artist.”
― Astro
“I know I’m going to be the next big hip-hop artist. I just want to save hip-hop… that’s my job.”
― Astro
“My life had been defined by the apartheid years. Now we were going into an era of democracy… and I believed that I didn’t really have a function as a useful artist in that anymore.”
― Athol Fugard
“My dad, when he was young, did Shakespeare in school, and my mom was a little bit of an artist, but everybody was pragmatic.”
― Ato Essandoh
“I’m very honest about the things I struggle with and I need to work on to survive as a solo artist.”
― Aubrey O’Day
“One thing that is constantly on my iPod is India Arie – I like her a lot; I listen to her a lot. I think she is just a spectacular artist.”
― Audra McDonald
“An artist, under pain of oblivion, must have confidence in himself, and listen only to his real master: Nature.”
― Auguste Renoir
“The artist must create a spark before he can make a fire and before art is born, the artist must be ready to be consumed by the fire of his own creation.”
― Auguste Rodin
“To the artist there is never anything ugly in nature.”
― Auguste Rodin
“The artist is the confidant of nature, flowers carry on dialogues with him through the graceful bending of their stems and the harmoniously tinted nuances of their blossoms. Every flower has a cordial word which nature directs towards him.”
― Auguste Rodin
“Inside you there’s an artist you don’t know about. He’s not interested in how things look different in moonlight.”
― Auguste Rodin
“It seemed like a very small possibility for me to become an artist. I didn’t have the need to be on the stage; I didn’t feel the need to be heard. I just needed to write.”
― Aurora
“I usually prepare a track and then I work with the artist when it’s time to do the vocals.”
― Babyface
“Every artist is an artist, and every heartbeat is a heartbeat.”
― Banks
“My make-up artist, she uses bronzer on the eyelids too. And also a little bit on the forehead to make everything look even.”
― Bar Refaeli
“When I sit down to write, I consider myself an artist.”
― Barbara Kingsolver
“I just say I’m an artist who works with pictures and words.”
― Barbara Kruger
“I’ve been recording audiobooks for more than 30 years. I’ve recorded over 500 titles on all sort of things. I’m a sort of genre-free recording artist – classics and romances, I just finished a sci-fi book, self help… just all kinds of things.”
― Barbara Rosenblat
“I suppose I was a frustrated artist. I like fitting things together, and there are plenty of different ways to do that with real estate.”
― Barry Sternlicht
“I went to Brown University, but my mom said I couldn’t be an artist because I would starve.”
― Barry Sternlicht
“The record company doesn’t know what to do with me, because I’m not a Lily Allen, but I’m not really an indie artist, either. All the best artists have been in the middle.”
― Bat for Lashes
“To finally have people receive and hear what I’m saying is one of the most gratifying feelings an artist can ever have.”
― Bazzi
“I’ve never read a screenplay in advance. You trust the artist.”
― Beatrice Dalle
“I just respect Kanye as an artist.”
― Bebe Rexha
“I view myself as a male artist.”
― Bebe Rexha
“It might crush a lot of people, but I’ve never been in the room with an artist that I’ve written a song for.”
― Bebe Rexha
“We write the song, then it gets played for the artist, and they somehow fall in love with it and go back in and make it their own.”
― Bebe Rexha
“It’s weird to me when an artist comes in, and the label says, ‘We want him to sound like Chris Brown,’ but he says he wants to sound like Sean Paul. There’s a huge disconnect – it’s like we’re making a product.”
― Bebe Rexha
“I never thought of myself as a songwriter. I was just an artist writing songs, and they just happened to get placed.”
― Bebe Rexha
“No one should drive a hard bargain with an artist.”
― Beck
“Working with Bruno Mars would be really awesome. I’m such a fan of his, and I love that he’s a real artist.”
― Becky G
“I have always felt that the Internet was a more important research tool for a writer than an artist.”
― Bella Freud
“The higher the artist, the fewer the gestures. The fewer the tools, the greater the imagination. The greater the will, the greater the secret failure.”
― Ben Okri
“To the question how one kind of labor can be measured against another, how the labor of the artisan can be measured against the labor of the artist, how the labor of the strong can be measured against the labor of the weak, the communists can give no answer.”
― Benjamin N. Cardozo
“Part of your job as an artist is to push yourself and make sure your creative juices are flowing.”
― Benjamin Walker
“I work hard, whether it comes to writing for my own project or another artist.”
― Benji Hughes
“Prince led by example. As prolific as he was as an artist, he was just as courageous in the business.”
― Benji Madden
“I’m not deciding what the artist is going to write about because it’s the artist. They’re gonna have to sing that song for the rest of their life. When they’re old and they’re 80 and they have their show in Vegas, they’re gonna have to sing that song for the rest of their life.”
― Benny Blanco
“I used to cold call labels and pretend I was one of their artist’s attorneys. I’d say, ‘This is Jay-Z’s attorney, we need to speak with Craig Kallman,’ you know, owner of Atlantic, and they’d say, ‘Right away,’ and then I’d be like, ‘Please just listen to my demo tape!’”
― Benny Blanco
“The little dissatisfaction which every artist feels at the completion of a work forms the germ of a new work.”
― Berthold Auerbach
“The transition from fan to performer to recording artist, for me, was like learning how to dive… and each board got higher and higher.”
― Beth Hart
“I got to meet Kanye West because we were shopping my artist deal, and I was interested in his label. When I met him, I played him all the records I had. He introduced me to Rihanna, and she recorded and cut some of those records.”
― Bibi Bourelly
“A writer is an artist. They’re creating things out of thin air.”
― Bibi Bourelly
“Musically, I’m always gonna take it a little farther, and Lord willing, people are gonna get that and understand that: that there’s not really one genre I’m trying to be in, but just as a producer, as a writer, as an artist, that I’m planning on going farther.”
― Big K.R.I.T.
“Any artist always has misgivings about calling himself an artist.”
― Bill Budge
“Huguette Clark was an artist, a painter and doll collector.”
― Bill Dedman
“Mike Judge, who I’ve become friends with over the years never took himself seriously as an artist.”
― Bill Griffith
“When I was an art student in the early 60’s before the acid scene began I was smoking pot just like anyone else who was an artist.”
― Bill Griffith
“I’m also performing regularly in Southern California with two bands. As a solo artist doing acoustic sets and a member of the Jenerators, my rock n roll band that has been around for a long time now.”
― Bill Mumy
“I really like hip-hop and rap; that’s my main influence. I really wanna be more of a hip-hop artist.”
― Billie Eilish
“The most important thing for anyone, I think, is to be engaged, whether you’re an artist or a journalist is to be engaged in the process at some level.”
― Billy Bragg
“I like Dali and Magritte. I also like the Scottish artist John Byrne, another surrealist.”
― Billy Connolly
“There’s nothing wrong with technology. It’s when technology is the story and not the artist, that’s the problem.”
― Billy Corgan
“I’m just an artist. I can only do so much. I can only say so much.”
― Billy Corgan
“A good artist is willing to die many times over. What’s funny is, I’ve died so many times.”
― Billy Corgan
“The true art is being able to take whatever the writer’s done, and if it is a bit flimsy or it is a bit rushed or is just box-ticking writing, then the true artist would be able to make that come off the page and sing for an audience or a viewer. I’m still learning how to do that properly.”
― Billy Howle
“Any director or writer or artist has the right to do what they want to do – freedom of expression is something I celebrate.”
― Birgitte Hjort Sorensen
“I’m always concerned about growing as an artist.”
― Bishop Briggs
“I started out as an artist, and I continue to think of myself as an artist first, and a technologist and entrepreneur after that.”
― Biz Stone
“The people I’m inspired by and I listen to are all ballsy, and I feel like I’m closer to an artist when they’re open and honest.”
― BJ the Chicago Kid
“I’m not like any other artist, point blank.”
― Blackbear
“To me, what makes an artist is a unique personality that they’re not afraid to let show.”
― Blake Shelton
“The Grand Ole Opry is an artist, and I am proud to be one of its songs.”
― Blake Shelton
“I’m a country artist first and just happen to be on television doing it.”
― Blake Shelton
“It is one of the most validating things for an artist like me, to have people sing along to your songs.”
― Blake Shelton
“I’m a really new artist here. I would say that my style is an artist who can dance and sing. That’s why my album is really upbeat. Maybe we will try slowly to do ballads or middle tempo songs.”
― BoA
“The trouble with being a ghostwriter or artist is that you must remain rather anonymously without credit. If one wants the credit, one has to cease being a ghost and become a leader or innovator.”
― Bob Kane
“I’m such a lover of music that it would be very hard for me to pinpoint it to a particular artist.”
― Bobby Sherman
“I really like ‘Disaster Artist.’”
― Bobcat Goldthwait
“I’ve had a lot of successes as a songwriter, and I really have nothing to prove in that arena, so I’m just excited about the next challenge of pursuing this artist thing.”
― Bonnie McKee
“I think carrying moral baggage is very dangerous for an artist. If you have a duty, it’s to be true and not cover up the cracks.”
― Bono
“I felt that, in retrospect, there was a time in the late Seventies, after I had a string of hits and successes, as a performer and a recording artist, that I wasn’t saying anything.”
― Boz Scaggs
“It’s like whether you’re in a huge movie or you’ve just recorded an incredible album you’ve got to do the next thing, and that’s part of being an artist.”
― Brad Garrett
“Style is the most valuable asset of the modern artist. That’s probably why so many styles are reported lost or stolen each year.”
― Brad Holland
“To be a true artist, I have to be true to who I am now and write that way.”
― Brad Paisley
“I am probably the oldest new artist Sony has ever signed.”
― Bradley Walsh
“Being an artist for my well being and as a living, I live in a place of observance and interest in what I consider to be the most relevant questions.”
― Brandon Boyd
“As an artist in the 21st century, my two goals are to make the best work that I can, improve as much as I can, and to distribute that work as far as I can.”
― Brandon Stanton
“I’m an artist – I’m an actor – so when I’m looking for something, I’m looking for stories.”
― Brandon Victor Dixon
“I like to make records sound good. I’m more like a reducer than a producer. If an artist cannot produce themselves, what’s the point?”
― Branford Marsalis
“I’ve always gone to see all kinds of shows and stole what I could, as we all do. We see an artist and hear a song and think, ‘I bet I could sing that song. I’ll put that in my show.’”
― Brenda Lee
“Mystical groups such as the Theosophical Society and the Rosicrucians turned tarot into an American fad during the early 1900s. Many American tarot practitioners use a set of cards known as the Waite-Smith deck, created in 1909 by A.E. Waite, a British member of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, and the artist Pamela Colman Smith.”
― Brendan I. Koerner
“Halsey’s a really great artist – her voice is great, and she has a really cool message behind her songs.”
― Brendon Urie
“For me as a solo artist, I never want to be a nostalgia act.”
― Bret Michaels
“They say your childhood influences your tastes and interests, or your approach if you’re an artist. So what you create, whatever you saw, whatever your childhood was like – it influences how you’re going to end up.”
― Brett Ratner
“I knew I would always be an artist, but when you move to Nashville, this is a writer’s town. I moved here to focus on that and started pitching demos and immediately was asked to be an artist.”
― Brett Young
“I never have used any other artist as a model for a sound or a song. It always has to come from an emotion, and capturing the essence of that emotion in a song.”
― Brian Bell
“I think I’ve committed the one really bad English crime, which is I’ve risen above my station. I was supposed to be a pop star, and suddenly I’m claiming that I’m an artist of some kind.”
― Brian Eno
“For me, there’s no point in being an artist and putting yourself out there if you’re not going to really put yourself out there.”
― Brian Fallon
“Whenever I fill out the job description I put ‘songwriter’, never ‘singer’ or ‘artist.’ Singers come and go.”
― Brian McKnight
“And I had worked at the comic-book store almost by accident, because I was deciding to make a living as an artist, be it as an art tutor or illustrator, and that’s how I wanted to make my living.”
― Brian Michael Bendis
“Much like every artist or every creator, I got into comics as a kid, and the most important thing was the ‘bang zoom’ of it. As many explosions as possible.”
― Brian Stelfreeze
“As the artist picks his way along, rejecting and accepting as he goes, certain patterns of enquiry emerge.”
― Bridget Riley
“An artist’s early work is inevitably made up of a mixture of tendencies and interests, some of which are compatible and some of which are in conflict.”
― Bridget Riley
“I want to be an artist that everyone can relate to, that’s young, happy and fun.”
― Britney Spears
“I have a lot of respect for all the artists I get compared to, even if, as an artist, you prefer to have your own identity.”
― Brittany Howard
“Louis Malle was the best filmmaker I’ve ever worked with. He was such an artist. He was dealing with the theme of innocence and experience.”
― Brooke Shields
“The most colorful section of a bookstore is the display of SF books, with art by people like Wayne Barlow, who is a terrific artist.”
― Bruce Boxleitner
“With the Ford Foundation grant all of a sudden instead of being an artist that had made a couple of short films, I became a filmmaker who dabbled in the arts.”
― Bruce Conner
“The true artist helps the world by revealing mystic truths.”
― Bruce Nauman
“In art, the only one who really knows whether what you’ve done is honest is the artist.”
― Bruce Nauman
“You’re always in a box, and you’re an escape artist if you do what I do – or if you’re a creative person, period. You build your box, and then you escape from it. You build another one, and you escape from it. That’s ongoing.”
― Bruce Springsteen
“Each role demands the right actor. To play an artist, one must be an artist.”
― Bruno Dumont
“To retain his dignity, an artist must live in opposition. He must be critical of his country. If not, then he is worthless.”
― Bruno Dumont
“I’ve always wanted to be a brooding, deep, dark artist, but I can never keep that facade going for more than 15 minutes.”
― Bryan Callen
“I’ve always wanted to be a real universal artist, one that every type of audience could relate to.”
― Bryan White
“Right now as an artist, what I want to do is be a part of works that are unignorable. I couldn’t be less interested in how people receive it, honestly. As long as it’s unignorable.”
― Bryce Dallas Howard
“Whenever a dope artist comes out of nowhere, the first thing you do is try and compare it to stuff until you realise that that artist is just them, and eventually those comparisons will stop.”
― Bryson Tiller
“My favorite soul artist, I would have to say D’Angelo. That’s R&B, soul. Trap artist, I would probably have to say…Young Thug.”
― Bryson Tiller
“I never really wanted to be an artist. I just really wanted to write songs. But, of course, I can’t get placement unless I demo the songs.”
― Bryson Tiller
“If he’s a true symphony artist, he knows better than that because he knows that the only truly creative musician is the jazz musician.”
― Buddy Rich
“That is, an artist who creates lots of work probably experiences prolific days and slower days.”
― Buffy Sainte-Marie
“Sixteen million colors in your palette are hard for any artist, especially a beginner, to turn down.”
― Buffy Sainte-Marie
“Once an artist explores the vast variety of tools and features available on the great programs, we’re hooked.”
― Buffy Sainte-Marie
“It’s almost not safe to be an artist, the way everybody is randomly picking people to feud with.”
― Busta Rhymes
“I have always found that if, while creating an artwork, the artist constantly feels that some accident would occur if he is not careful, then it is a very significant moment and a significant work.”
― Cai Guo-Qiang
“I think I was very lucky to have grown up with an artist’s studio in the house. It was a kind of life that was possible. Yeah, it made it kind of harder because the standards were higher, but there was no pressure.”
― Caio Fonseca
“I’m not such an artist type that I can’t handle the real world. I read the financial pages, because most people don’t talk about art.”
― Caio Fonseca
“I’d like to think I’m a versatile artist without straying too far from who I am.”
― Calum Scott
“Nowadays, you can be a fan of someone that’s not an actor or artist. You can be a fan of someone that makes YouTube videos.”
― Cameron Dallas
“As a longtime fan of talk radio, I’m very worried about the low opinion that conservative hosts and callers have of the American artist. Art is portrayed as a scam, a rip-off and snow job pushed by snobbish elites.”
― Camille Paglia
“No genuinely avant-garde artist should ever be on the government dole.”
― Camille Paglia
“I want to be an artist artist, a real artist. I don’t just want to do this for temporary money.”
― Cardi B
“It is futile for an artist to try to create an environment because you have an environment around you all the time. Any living organism has an environment.”
― Carl Andre
“An artist’s sphere of influence is the world.”
― Carl Maria von Weber
“I think you always have to go as an artist with instinct, I really do.”
― Carla Gugino
“America tends to worship the modest talent because it doesn’t put us in an uncomfortable position vis-a-vis the artist.”
― Carlisle Floyd
“If something is successful with the audience, it’s automatically suspect; the reverse is to say that not to reach audiences is the greatest compliment an artist can receive!”
― Carlisle Floyd
“The artist is something of an outsider in America. I have always felt that America does not value its artists, certainly not in the sense that the Europeans do.”
― Carlisle Floyd
“You have to be willing to be afraid if you’re going to be an artist.”
― Carmen Ejogo
“As an artist, there’s so many categories that you’re put into, that there are so many things that I’m about that I’ve never explored as an artist on film. I don’t see myself in so many characters in film.”
― Carmen Ejogo
“I didn’t want to be an artist.”
― Carole King
“It’s only when an artist becomes a master that they are fully able to express themselves.”
― Carolina Kostner
“I am a horrible visual artist. I can’t fix a car, sew, knit, cook, etc. Statistically, there is more I don’t do than do.”
― Carrie Brownstein
“Even a true artist does not always produce art.”
― Carroll O’Connor
“The reviewer is a singularly detested enemy because he is, unlike the hapless artist, invulnerable.”
― Carroll O’Connor
“I obviously appreciate all the fans I gained from my band, but there weren’t enough of them to make me a very successful artist. To me, being successful is selling a lot of records and selling out big venues on tour, and it’s not up to anyone else to decide what success is for me.”
― Cassadee Pope
“I’m always looking for ways to develop as an artist, especially as a jazz artist-to find different ways of testing my voice.”
― Cassandra Wilson
“It would be awesome to stay popular, but if I was only an underground artist, I would be okay with that.”
― Cassie Ventura
“If you looked at my resume in the years leading up to Flickr, I worked in a dive shop in landlocked Arkansas; I was a starving artist. I just arrived at the thing I love to do accidentally.”
― Caterina Fake
“When I was a kid, I really wanted to be a writer and an artist when I grew up. So in college, I was an English major, and then I became a fine artist. But when I arrived in San Francisco in 1995, I figured I could leverage my artistic skills by becoming a Web designer and programmer.”
― Caterina Fake
“Actually, yeah, I am an artist. I draw.”
― Catherine Hardwicke
“I’m not the kind of artist who has an idea and then carries it out; it’s more like I find what the idea was through doing the paintings.”
― Cecily Brown
“I think I’m needed – as an artist, as an individual, as an entity, an enigma, an exhibitionist, an entertainer – as an alternative.”
― CeeLo Green
“I’m an artist, and I like the risk – I’m not in it for the sure things.”
― CeeLo Green
“I feel like I’m a rock artist. I don’t feel like I’m a pop artist. And I’m alt rock. I’m indie rock. I’m punk rock. Because it comes from the pots and pans. It’s a lot of me, but I’ve got multiple personalities.”
― CeeLo Green
“For me, being a complete artist means not necessarily just being in front of the camera, but being behind the camera or being the originator or creator of something.”
― Chadwick Boseman
“My favorite artist in the world is Michael Jackson, and he revolutionized the music video aspect of music.”
― Chance The Rapper
“Everything you write as an artist is about your legacy and your catalog and how you would look in a museum.”
― Chance The Rapper
“I don’t really have control over my direct impression on people anymore. I used to be the person putting my CD in people’s hands. But I’m kind of a mainstream artist now. Not by choice.”
― Chance The Rapper
“Jeremih has been my favorite artist to collab with.”
― Chance The Rapper
“I think when you’re in my position as an artist, I can say what I want and talk about the issues that matter.”
― Chance The Rapper
“It’s not easy to go from reality TV to being taken seriously as an artist, so I don’t think I’ll be doing reality TV again because of that.”
― Chanel West Coast
“There are so many things I want to do. Like, I want to get an artist, a musician, a photographer, and a bunch of dancers that I know and just travel across Africa and just film it and just see what happens. Do and learn as much as I possibly can. Luckily, I have a lot more time.”
― Channing Tatum
“An artist is an artist only because of his exquisite sense of beauty, a sense which shows him intoxicating pleasures, but which at the same time implies and contains an equally exquisite sense of all deformities and all disproportion.”
― Charles Baudelaire
“In order for the artist to have a world to express he must first be situated in this world, oppressed or oppressing, resigned or rebellious, a man among men.”
― Charles Baudelaire
“The study of beauty is a duel in which the artist cries with terror before being defeated.”
― Charles Baudelaire
“’Death Of A Salesman,’ ‘Streetcar Named Desire,’ these are the things that, when I was growing up, made me want to be an artist.”
― Charles Bock
“An intellectual says a simple thing in a hard way. An artist says a hard thing in a simple way.”
― Charles Bukowski
“When you are an artist, you want your audience to think it’s effortless and easy.”
― Charles Fleischer
“An artist cannot fail; it is a success to be one.”
― Charles Horton Cooley
“The writer knows his own worth, and to be overvalued can confuse and destroy him as an artist.”
― Charles R. Jackson
“When you have a sense of calling, whether it’s to be a musician, soloist, artist, in one of the technical fields, or a plumber, there is something deep and enriching when you realize it isn’t just a casual choice, it’s a divine calling. It’s not limited to vocational Christian service by any means.”
― Charles R. Swindoll
“The social aspect of being an artist has always made me uncomfortable.”
― Charles Ray
“In 20 years I had sold more records for RCA than any artist except Elvis Presley.”
― Charley Pride
“When I came up, there was room for the new and the old. For every new artist, an old one didn’t have to be pushed out.”
― Charley Pride
“I’m a really big Rihanna fan, and I think she’s such an incredible artist.”
― Charli XCX
“I was playing pretty boys and these angelic roles like Nicholas Nickleby and all that stuff. And I was like, ‘What am I doing? This isn’t who I am, as a man or an artist.’ I had to overcome people’s belief that I was too pretty to be a badass.”
― Charlie Hunnam
“The greatest thing in the world as an actor or an artist to connect.”
― Charlie Plummer
“I came out to L.A. to be a songwriter and not an artist, and I’m so excited because I always secretly wanted to be an artist.”
― Charlie Puth
“One of my goals is to find an unsigned YouTube artist and feature them on my album. That’s what I wished someone would’ve done for me.”
― Charlie Puth
“Richard Serra, the great sculptor, personifies an artist for me.”
― Charlie Rose
“Back in I want to say 2011, Taylor Swift was on her ‘Speak Now’ tour. She was kind enough to bring me out as one of the openers on that tour. Between her and Miranda Lambert, who also helped me out that year, I got a pretty non-typical first tour as a fellow artist.”
― Charlie Worsham
“It is probably like an artist. They see in their head what they want to draw, and they draw it. It is like I have a feeling inside me that I want to create on a horse, and that is what I do.”
― Charlotte Dujardin
“As an artist, I understand that, and I value the creative input of the artist.”
― Charlton Heston
“I am a touring artist – I get a kick out of it, like, a huge kick.”
― Cher Lloyd
“I am, as they say, the classic starving artist.”
― Cheryl Strayed
“As an artist, I want a reaction.”
― Chester Bennington
“I don’t think any artist really knows why a song gets popular.”
― Chick Corea
“An artist, in my understanding of the word, should side with the people against the Emperor that oppresses his or her people.”
― Chinua Achebe
“I think an artist, in my definition of that word, would not be someone who takes sides with the emperor against his powerless subjects. That’s different from prescribing a way in which a writer should write.”
― Chinua Achebe
“There might be the odd person in my family who was an artist down the line, but no one in my immediate family is an actor of any kind.”
― Chloe Pirrie
“Every successful artist comes from a family – parents or siblings or both – who, although equally gifted, chose not to pursue the treacherous and difficult path of the artist.”
― Chris Abani
“Kanye West – he’s all over the place, and I think he defines what an artist is because none of his work is the same, and he’s into what he’s into.”
― Chris Bosh
“I find myself walking these lines. Like I might be an artist, but I also might be an activist. And I’m trying to be both in a way that honors both and doesn’t stray too far into either.”
― Chris Jordan
“I used to be a photographer – and now I’m some kind of digital photographic artist.”
― Chris Jordan
“It’s not easy to stand out as a young artist.”
― Chris Lane
“I’m competitive with anyone who writes a good song – I don’t care if it’s a band or solo artist or whoever.”
― Chris Martin
“Life is different than it was in the Nineties. I’m a dad, and there are other things I have to get done in an afternoon than just being an artist.”
― Chris Robinson
“Being a pop artist or making music like a jingle or something – I don’t do that.”
― Chris Robinson
“No film critic’s going to say it, but ‘Madagascar 3’ is better than ‘The Artist.’”
― Chris Rock
“When you’re writing with an artist or for an artist, you have to help them serve their vision. That’s the cool part about writing songs. There are no rules.”
― Chris Stapleton
“The interesting part about being an artist is that the ways in which you express yourself are not always readily available.”
― Chris Sullivan
“It’s not in the interest of the artist to think of his market.”
― Chris Van Allsburg
“My mother was always encouraging about my wanting to be an artist.”
― Chris Ware
“For awhile there, I kind of hit the plateau. Anytime you do that as an artist, one of two things can happen… you’re either going to start to fall back off, or you’re gonna start to rise.”
― Chris Young
“I’m an artist; I love everyone.”
― Chris Zylka
“Yeah, the industry has always been both the enemy and the best friend of the artist. They need each other. That’s the bottom line.”
― Chrissie Hynde
“If you’re an artist, you need to work. It doesn’t matter how old you are, who you are. It doesn’t matter if you’re 12: if you draw, you draw. If you’re 85 and you paint, you paint.”
― Chrissie Hynde
“I’ve always felt that I would rather see an actor, writer, or musician’s work, rather than actually know the person. If you know too much about an artist, it somehow lessens their ability to do their work as well.”
― Christian Bale
“As an artist, you’re always somewhat obscure. We’re not talking Hollywood.”
― Christian Marclay
“The great artist is a slave to his ideals.”
― Christian Nestell Bovee
“That’s how I started. I moved to New York City, and I was a makeup artist.”
― Christian Siriano
“I embraced being a pop artist, but I like doing it on my own terms, at my own pace.”
― Christina Aguilera
“It’s a big responsibility to help someone express themselves as an artist.”
― Christina Aguilera
“Target is one of the best at really listening to the artist and understanding what they are about.”
― Christina Aguilera
“It’s the strong will of an artist that really inspires me.”
― Christine and the Queens
“The freedom of every artist is essential.”
― Christo
“The decision to use only the name Christo was made deliberately when we were young because it is difficult for one artist to get established and we wanted to put all the chances on our side.”
― Christo
“The bohemian artist who exists only for his art, it’s a myth. OK, it might have been true for Giacometti, but it certainly wasn’t for Picasso or Mozart.”
― Christoph Waltz
“I think most paintings are a record of the decisions that the artist made. I just perhaps make them a little clearer than some people have.”
― Chuck Close
“Ease is the enemy of the artist. When things get too easy, you’re in trouble.”
― Chuck Close
“Any artist who goes to Las Vegas is an idiot as far as I am concerned. Whoever goes to Las Vegas can stay in Las Vegas.”
― Chuck Close
“If the bottom dropped out of the market and the artist was not going to sell anything, he or she will keep working, and the dealer will keep trying to find some way to convince somebody to buy this stuff.”
― Chuck Close
“People aren’t going to support an artist just because they have an audio file. They have to feel a real connection.”
― Chuck D
“What made me want to become a recording artist; I was the first artist that was repeatedly asked by a label to record with them. That label was Def Jam Records.”
― Chuck D
“My daughter’s 19. I’m not asking her to develop as an artist. I’m just asking her to develop as a full person, human being.”
― Chuck D
“Any ‘artist’ makes a living by expressing what others can’t – because they’re unaware of their feelings, they’re too afraid to express those feelings, or they lack the skills to communicate and be understood.”
― Chuck Palahniuk
“As an artist, I think it’s important to always keep growing, and I definitely want to keep challenging myself.”
― Ciara
“When I perform or have work, I get my makeup done by an artist.”
― CL
“I’ve spent my life pursing excellence as an artist, which is what I always wanted to do anyhow.”
― Claire Bloom
“Is an artist much more than a beggar?”
― Clara Schumann
“Sarah Vaughan is one of my greatest heroes. She personifies what an artist is all about, taking risks, daring to go beyond the boundaries of safety and convention. It takes courage to share your vulnerability.”
― Claron McFadden
“No one is an artist unless he carries his picture in his head before painting it, and is sure of his method and composition.”
― Claude Monet
“I could have been born into any family. I was fortunate that I was born to an artist as extraordinary as Picasso, and Picasso turned out to be the family business.”
― Claude Picasso
“I’m a very message-oriented artist, and each song has a totally different meaning.”
― Claudia Lee
“I wanted to be the perfect artist. I’d do three hours of media interviews a day, going to every radio station I could squeeze in. I’d sign autographs after the show until everybody left.”
― Clint Black
“My years with Aretha Franklin have been very special, as were the years making records with Dionne Warwick. Other highlights include working with Janis Joplin, who was the first artist I ever signed, as well as Patti Smith and Alicia Keys.”
― Clive Davis
“I have total respect for the self-contained rock artist. Whether you’re dealing with Jerry Garcia or Lou Reed or Patti Smith or a Whitney or an Aretha, they know what they want with their career.”
― Clive Davis
“The purity of finding the right artist, that artist that’s gonna be the next hall of famer, that artist that’s gonna be the next headliner, lifting people out of their seats at Madison Square Garden, that song that’s gonna be sung for hundreds and hundreds of years, that essence remains the same.”
― Clive Davis
“I’m not very knowledgeable when it comes to designers, but I love going to fashion shows just to see the other personalities that show up. It’s such an eclectic group, and everybody is sort of like an artist.”
― Cobie Smulders
“As an artist, we have a big influence, and we should always think if we are doing more harm than good to our viewers. We should serve as a model to them.”
― Coco Martin
“I do indie films for the sense of fulfillment and to achieve my goals as an artist.”
― Coco Martin
“If you think of any past artist, there was something that they looked at that inspired them to make their most famous pieces, whether it be the ‘Mona Lisa’ or ‘Venus Rising.’”
― Coco Rocha
“All of my role models as an artist have always been women actors.”
― Cody Fern
“As an artist, as a person, I don’t want to be here for just a little while.”
― Cole Swindell
“If an artist can take two minutes to tweet a fan and make his or her day, why wouldn’t they take advantage of that?”
― Cole Swindell
“I know how to lead a room, but I also know how to take direction and be a contributor as an artist.”
― Colman Domingo
“Doing acting opened up other creative outlets; it made me feel freer as an artist.”
― Common
“The impact of a conscious artist is necessary, and it ripples through the world.”
― Common
“I feel, as an artist, I should be able to express who I am and the things I come from, and the places I want to also be.”
― Common
“I came from the South Side of Chicago wanting to be a rap artist and make videos.”
― Common
“When I started thinking about it, I was like, ‘OK, if throughout time I get labeled as a conscious artist, I’ll be very much celebrated, in a way, and honored.’”
― Common
“My view of myself as an artist expanded because of the time I spent at Cal Arts.”
― Condola Rashad
“I think, even when I was little, there was signs that I was an artist. I’ve always been an artist. My first exploration through art was really through music – I’ve trained classically with piano for about ten years.”
― Condola Rashad
“As an artist you actually do have to make a choice to be an outsider. If you’re an outsider you have the freedom to say what people on the inside don’t dare to say.”
― Connie Nielsen
“I would probably work with Drake as he is massively inspirational to me as a writer as well as an artist. If not him, then Susan Boyle!”
― Conor Maynard
“The left paw has done me well over the years. I’m not a scientist, I’m a martial artist.”
― Conor McGregor
“The worst thing you can do as an artist is to repeat yourself.”
― Conor Oberst
“I knew I wanted to be an artist early on, but I decided to seriously pursue the profession when I auditioned for Juilliard.”
― Corey Hawkins
“I grew up really into comic books, and I actually thought I was going to be a comic-book artist. That was my ambition before I realized I couldn’t keep characters looking the same from panel to panel.”
― Corey Stoll
“In the eighteenth century, it was ladies and gentlemen and swings in a garden; today, it may be Campbell’s soup cans or highway signs. There is no real difference. The artist still takes his everyday world and tries to make something out of it.”
― Corita Kent
“Art and creativity are crucial, whether you’re a mathematician, a scientist, or an artist.”
― Cornelia Parker
“You don’t have to have angst to be an artist, but it’s grist to the mill. If you want to explore the whole emotional spectrum in your work, it helps to have experienced intense emotions.”
― Cornelia Parker
“My parents were always doubtful about my making a living as an artist. Even when I was up for the Turner Prize, my mum suggested I apply for a curator’s job.”
― Cornelia Parker
“To make large, site-specific work as an artist is usually quite tortuous; there are so many boxes you have to tick.”
― Cornelia Parker
“I cannot exist as a solo artist.”
― Courtney Love
“I’m a catalogue artist: I compete with Bob Dylan.”
― Courtney Love
“I’ve experienced everything any aspiring artist could ever want.”
― Craig David
“For a long time I wanted to be a comic strip artist but when I started doing them in my teens they were getting really elaborate with tons of poses and a lot of information.”
― Craig McCracken
“The task of the artist at any time is uncompromisingly simple to discover what has not yet been done, and to do it.”
― Craig Raine
“A bunch of comedians have gotten in ‘trouble’ for sharing their views. When an actor or an artist or might come out saying something political or whatever, then it becomes about that view.”
― Craig Robinson
“In my early days, I was about 145 pounds. I was really a starving artist; the poster child for starving artists.”
― Creed Bratton
“I went to a public school in Oak Harbor, Ohio, and it’s a very rural community. I was an artist kid, and I just didn’t fit in very well.”
― Crystal Bowersox
“It’s cool to see a bunch of brown kids in the crowd. I wanna be a brown artist that they look up to. I didn’t see that many artists with my same culture that I looked up to when I was growing up. The industry has always been whitewashed.”
― Cuco
“I’m not trying to save the world. As a musician and artist, it just ain’t me.”
― Curtis Jackson
“The new artist is meeting the general public before they meet the record company. They’re able to put the material on YouTube and have a million views before they even meet an executive at a record company, and get the deal based on that.”
― Curtis Jackson
“When I put out my first mixtape, ’50 Cent is the Future,’ it was the first tape where an artist did the entire tape in song format.”
― Curtis Jackson
“Since I was the solo artist as well as the writer for the songs, I figured I had enough credits on it already.”
― Cy Coleman
“To say that such-and-such a circumstance is ‘Kafkaesque’ is to admit to the denigration of an imagination that has burned a hole in what we take to be modernism – even in what we take to be the ordinary fabric and intent of language. Nothing is like ‘The Hunger Artist.’ Nothing is like ‘The Metamorphosis.’”
― Cynthia Ozick
“The main reason he wanted to be a recording artist was because it gives you much more freedom in your writing. You only have to please the artist and the artist is you so you can be more daring and experimental.”
― Cynthia Weil
“The artist is a member of the leisured classes who cannot pay for his leisure.”
― Cyril Connolly
“Never trust the artist. Trust the tale. The proper function of the critic is to save the tale from the artist who created it.”
― D. H. Lawrence
“The true artist doesn’t substitute immorality for morality. On the contrary, he always substitutes a finer morality for a grosser one.”
― D. H. Lawrence
“I hated school. I travelled so much in my early years that I didn’t understand the process. I felt suffocated – not like I was some grandiose artist; I just felt like an alien.”
― Dakota Johnson
“I always thought being an artist was a lazy job. I was wrong.”
― Damian Loeb
“If you’re an artist, you want to draw from real life; you want to draw from experiences, emotion, and it’s something that a lot of musicians juggle with. I’ve always found it so fascinating.”
― Damien Chazelle
“You need a big ego to be an artist.”
― Damien Hirst
“The idea of being a painter, I’ve always thought, is better than being an artist or a sculptor.”
― Damien Hirst
“I had a passport where I wrote ‘artist’ under ‘occupation’ and I remember thinking, ‘That’s it, it’s proved!’”
― Damien Hirst
“My life is as an artist, not an entertainer. I don’t consider myself an entertainer, but I can do that thing when I want to.”
― Dan Fogelberg
“I’m obviously really opinionated, but as a producer, you don’t necessarily want the person you’re working with to try to impress you – you want them to just be themselves. Then you can edit or mess around with what they’ve come up with. But you have to allow the artist that space.”
― Danger Mouse
“No one can be an artist without a rich inner life.”
― Daniel Barenboim
“I originally just wanted to be an artist.”
― Daniel Clowes
“I’m confident in my team. I’m confident in my coaches. I’m confident in my ability. I worked really hard to become a better mixed martial artist.”
― Daniel Cormier
“I’ve got something to live for, because I always wanted to be an artist; I always wanted to be famous.”
― Daniel Johnston
“The most successful Subway customers, of course, are the ones who can’t keep their hands off their sandwich. Join your artist in the sandwich assembling process. That sneeze guard is a suggestion. That sneeze guard is trying to intimidate you into staying on the customer’s side of the partition.”
― Daniel Mallory Ortberg
“After working on ‘Europa,’ I found it incredibly freeing to speak English in a film, so it kind of sparked an interest in me as an artist to improve my acting.”
― Daniel Wu
“I just want to be fully challenged as an artist, so that anyone who looks like me, who relates to me, says, ‘Oh, if Danielle did it, I can.’”
― Danielle Brooks
“I wish I started out as a solo artist.”
― Darlene Love
“When you’re an artist, you have to hope for everything and expect nothing.”
― Darren Criss
“My fan base is really expanding into an inter-generational thing – it’s what every artist probably hopes for.”
― Daryl Hall
“The biggest honor of my career was when I won R&B Artist of the Year back in the 1970s. I look at that as a major honor.”
― Daryl Hall
“Anyone who doesn’t know anything about art knows the name of at least one artist.”
― Dasha Zhukova
“I would think, as an artist, it’s inescapable that you’ll be affected by the world around you.”
― Dave Filoni
“The whole ‘serious artist’ thing is very damaging. The powers that be will steer you towards your own demise. One thing I’ve learned is that it’s not very glamourous, and my problems are no different from anybody else’s.”
― Dave Gahan
“One of the things you have to be able to do, as a comic strip artist, is to draw things repeatedly from a variety of angles, so you need references, and you find the best picture you can.”
― Dave Gibbons
“If you’re using a computer as an artist and expressing your personal vision, I think your personal vision comes through.”
― Dave Gibbons
“Guilt is cancer. Guilt will confine you, torture you, destroy you as an artist. It’s a black wall. It’s a thief.”
― Dave Grohl
“I’m a fairly tormented artist, and I’m less willing to indulge myself in self-pity, outside of songwriting.”
― Dave Matthews
“I get to say ‘no’ to a lot of things. That, for an artist, is crazy.”
― Daveed Diggs
“I’m an artist, so days don’t start on any regular time.”
― Daveed Diggs
“Lawrence Ferlinghetti had a tremendous education as an artist and also an enormous knowledge of literarture.”
― David Amram
“I don’t really like the term ‘artist.’ I’m not sure what it means. It’s a bit like ‘love.’”
― David Bailey
“From my standpoint, being an artist, I want to see what the new construction is between artist and audience.”
― David Bowie
“I subscribe to the myth that an artist’s creativity comes from torment. Once that’s fixed, what do you draw on?”
― David Byrne
“I came to New York to be a fine artist – that was my ambition.”
― David Byrne
“I can’t deny that label-support gave me a leg up – though not every successful artist needs it.”
― David Byrne
“At one time there were voiceover artists, now there are celebrity voiceover artists. It’s unfortunate because these people need the money less than the voiceover artist.”
― David Duchovny
“An artist sees that which does not yet exist. He or she imagines a future others cannot perceive. The artist – and the writer – reshapes reality so that it becomes even more vivid and lasting.”
― David Ebershoff
“One of the things that makes Wittgenstein a real artist to me is that he realized that no conclusion could be more horrible than solipsism.”
― David Foster Wallace
“The expectation on me as a solo artist is very different to the audience’s expectation of a Pink Floyd show.”
― David Gilmour
“I became paralyzed as an artist with writer’s block.”
― David Guterson
“Having done so many versions, I never felt like an artist in ‘Swan Lake.’”
― David Hallberg
“People don’t buy and sell art based on the personality of the artist. Or there wouldn’t be much art bought and sold.”
― David L. Wolper
“I’m a tattoo artist, and I went to school to paint, and I started writing and getting published.”
― David Labrava
“I would rather die than be a serious artist, or a fake artist.”
― David LaChapelle
“My mum was one of those people who really wasn’t allowed to be an artist, because she worked in a factory and she came from the war and all that stuff. She really has an artist’s soul.”
― David LaChapelle
“I’ve just begun to dare to think I perhaps am a bit of an artist.”
― David Lean
“The Term Paper Artist’ represents two models of writing, one of the little boy bouncing his ball, generating stories for the sheer pleasure of it, and the besieged adult, writing to make a living, having to contend with a very competitive, very unreliable world in which public image counts.”
― David Leavitt
“Poetry criticism at its worst today is mean in spirit and spiteful in intent, as if determined to inflict the wound that will spur the artist to new heights if it does not cripple him or her.”
― David Lehman
“But if you have a point of view and you’re an artist or a writer, it’s kind of crazy to not take advantage of that, especially if you can do something that’s entertaining as well. I’ve done a number of things like that over the years.”
― David Lloyd
“Somehow, the French got this idea of the starving artist. Very romantic, except it’s not so romantic for the starving artist.”
― David Lynch
“When I was a young artist, I liked and was interested in belonging to the mainstream comics group. I didn’t introduce myself as an author, but only as a designer.”
― David Mazzucchelli
“My father kind of had hopes that I was going to become an artist like him – the typical thing. Of course I could play guitar better than him when I was about 12. But I couldn’t paint better than him. So I went, ‘I’m going to be the guitarist of the house, not the painter.’”
― David Russell
“Every writer from Montaigne to William S. Burroughs has pasted and cut from previous work. Every artist, whether it’s Warhol or, you know, Dangermouse or whoever.”
― David Shields
“The public so often want to freeze the artist in a moment in time when they were at their peak, and they want the artist to revisit it over and over again as if it was something authentic.”
― David Sylvian
“I just want to be a storyteller, and I think the way to do that is by your lyrics, by your visuals, by your choreography, by your dance. It’s imperative as an artist.”
― Dawn Richard
“I can be a little messy and wild and carefree with my creativity as a solo artist. In a group, there’s a certain structure, and everyone has a part to play, and being a solo artist, I can do as I please.”
― Dawn Richard
“I always knew who I was, but everyone else wanted to me to be their ‘idea’ of the ‘right’ artist. At times, I even believed them.”
― Dawn Richard
“It’s a lot of work being an indie artist, but it’s worth it.”
― Dawn Richard
“A lot of times, I can put a product together with a distributor when I go into my Rolodex for distributors. I can then put it together with a face, such as an artist. And then I can go into my databank of retailers and people that I’ve been working with through the years of retail, and then also manufacturing.”
― Daymond John
“Coming out as a Barbra Streisand fan was way more embarrassing than coming out as a lesbian. To be an artist of my generation willing to be unhip – artists were supposed to be like cowboys.”
― Deborah Kass
“For me, Sundance always felt big. It’s not the only way to make your way, but for me, it was definitely that critical link between struggling artist, kind of working on my own, to actually working professionally and being connected and being seen.”
― Dee Rees
“To have a simultaneous global audience as an artist is more than you could ever hope for.”
― Dee Rees
“I’m a little bit of an obsessed artist, and I’m not very talented. But isn’t Suzanne Somers a bad painter?”
― Denis O’Hare
“Every photo shoot, I’m always asking the makeup artist what they’re using on me, and I’ll go out and get it.”
― Denise Richards
“In my drive to be the perfect artist, I’ve left a lot of living to the side.”
― Dennis Christopher
“My artist name is actually my real name – Denzel Curry.”
― Denzel Curry
“I’m just an artist.”
― Denzel Curry
“I love hip-hop and you can’t tell me I’m not a hip-hop artist.”
― Derek Luke
“I’m my own favorite artist, but I love everybody’s music.”
― Desiigner
“I’ve always known that I’m very, very ordinary looking. But I’m not alien looking. I am an artist here to play characters.”
― Dhanush
“When you’re an artist, you can’t write with the intent of affecting anyone.”
― Diana Gabaldon
“I dreamed of being an artist.”
― Diane Guerrero
“I think an artist who has it in their heart to do or say something, they’ll say it. It’s not something that’s mandatory, but it will come out.”
― Dianne Reeves
“I come from a family of business people, but I had the idea I wanted to become an artist.”
― Dick Bruna
“No, as an artist, you have to be free to explore all the corners of your heart. There are no boundaries.”
― Dierks Bentley
“Being in a group, you don’t really get to give an ounce of who you are as a solo artist.”
― Dinah Jane
“No actor can be a complete artist without trying his/her hand at comic roles.”
― Divyanka Tripathi
“I’m not the average artist.”
― DMX
“I feel like Sony appreciates good music from a talented artist.”
― DMX
“I’m an artist, and I need to work, like everybody. We need to be challenged and that we’re getting up and doing something with our lives.”
― Dolores O’Riordan
“One of the expectations growing up was that I’d become a well-known artist.”
― Domino Kirke
“I think we have to bottom out. When the studios jump out of the ring, perhaps the artist can get back in.”
― Don Bluth
“I consider myself an artist. God granted me some gifts so that I could express myself artistically.”
― Don Johnson
“Every human is an artist. And this is the main art that we have: the creation of our story.”
― Don Miguel Ruiz
“Every human is an artist. The dream of your life is to make beautiful art.”
― Don Miguel Ruiz
“It’s an incredible dilemma to be an artist of color and to always be in denial about that, saying, ‘I’m a choreographer first and then I’m black,’ when in fact, that’s not the case. I’m black first and then I’m also a choreographer.”
― Donald Byrd
“I just like to choose projects that will allow me as an artist to make my art.”
― Donnie Yen
“Seeing is more than a physiological phenomenon… We see not only with our eyes but with all that we are and all that our culture is. The artist is a professional see-er.”
― Dorothea Lange
“For Dylan, it seems, life is always the next gig. Changing pace and location are essential to his survival as an artist.”
― Douglas Brinkley
“When I was a young man in school, I used to read science fiction and really liked it. And as I became a young artist, I was filling up my portfolio with alien planets and spacecraft and things like that.”
― Douglas Trumbull
“Kendrick Lamar is the real deal. He’s a real artist, and he’s gonna be here for awhile because this guy is seriously talented.”
― Dr. Dre
“I would say that I’m more than just a teeny-bopper artist… that my music can appeal to people of all ages.”
― Drake Bell
“Kanye West is my favorite artist.”
― Drake
“TLC was so real and authentic. And that’s music as a whole. When it’s an artist, and it comes from the heart, and that’s really who you are, the fans attach to that.”
― Drew Sidora
“I think the dark psychology of human beings is very interesting as an artist.”
― Du Yun
“For a male artist, people instantly assume they write their own music, but for women, they assume it’s all manufactured.”
― Dua Lipa
“Law breaking, graffiti artist, dumb jock that I am, I’m pretty socially conscious.”
― Duff Goldman
“In rock n’ roll, we don’t sell records at all like we used to. Yet the artist still has to pay to make records. So you’ve just got to get out on tour and be smarter about your merchandising.”
― Duff McKagan
“I could never even entertain the notion that it’s an option, to not be an artist.”
― Dustin Yellin
“As an artist, you have to maintain focus and eliminate the distraction of second-guessing yourself based on the opinions of others.”
― Dwight Yoakam
“Film acting has been a very pure experience, because you have to give the purest form of yourself as an artist.”
― Dwight Yoakam
“Anytime an artist puts your name in a song, it’s unbelievable. It never gets old.”
― Dwyane Wade
“There is only one position for an artist anywhere; and that is upright.”
― Dylan Thomas
“Part of being an artist is that you want to express yourself to as many people as possible. But you don’t want to exclude anyone.”
― Ed Kowalczyk
“The Web has incredible potential for an artist who keeps in touch with millions of people.”
― Ed Kowalczyk
“I’m quite arty. I didn’t know whether to become an artist or musician but I realised I could paint with music. All my songs have colours.”
― Ed Sheeran
“I come from a council estate in Tower Hamlets, and by no means am I the only person who has done well – one of my friends is head of year in a great school in Twickenham. Another is a writer; another is an artist, a musician.”
― Eddie Marsan
“Paddy Considine is a great friend of mine, and he is a natural actor because he is an artist, and I’m not an artist. If I ever blow my own trumpet, it’s as a craftsman.”
― Eddie Marsan
“I’m the artist when I’m doing music that I am when I’m acting. I’m everything.”
― Eddie Murphy
“A good producer brings out the best in the artist he’s working with. You shouldn’t be able to listen to something and say, ‘So-and-so produced this album.’”
― Eddie Van Halen
“Commercial success still hasn’t come to an artist that isn’t signed to a record label. There are very few artists that can succeed without the help of a record label. The role of the record label is still required, it’s still necessary.”
― Edgar Bronfman, Jr.
“Contrary to general belief, an artist is never ahead of his time but most people are far behind theirs.”
― Edgard Varese
“In my previous life, I was an artist. I still paint. I love art.”
― Edi Rama
“I’m not sure I am a politician. I would say that I am still an artist, and I’m trying to use politics as an instrument for change.”
― Edi Rama
“A successful artist of any kind has to work so hard that she is justified in refusing to lay down her sceptre until she is placed on the bier.”
― Edith Evans
“But at a certain point, you have to take your influence and find your own voice if you want to become a relevant artist.”
― Edward Burns
“I knew I wanted to be some kind of artist from about 12. I met a neighbour who drew cartoons, and I had an idea I wanted to be a cartoonist – or something that involved Indian ink, at any rate.”
― Edward Ruscha
“Every other artist begins with a blank canvas, a piece of paper the photographer begins with the finished product.”
― Edward Steichen
“I don’t think most of our films should be realistic, but you want that as an artistic possibility. Then, the artist can take the realism of the world and push it in ways that we can connect with.”
― Edwin Catmull
“Reading is an art form, and every man can be an artist.”
― Edwin Louis Cole
“Everybody doubts themselves. Every writer doubts themselves, every artist doubts himself, and every football player does.”
― Edwin van der Sar
“To restrict the artist is a crime. It is to murder germinating life.”
― Egon Schiele
“Evolution is not an even process. There are surges, and there are micromoments. Certainly a career as an artist is that way.”
― Eileen Myles
“Labels are curators of taste, and the best ones know how to monetize what an artist is trying to do.”
― El-P
“Every artist is unreasonable, because he or she is doing something that hasn’t been done before.”
― Eli Broad
“The writer, when he is also an artist, is someone who admits what others don’t dare reveal.”
― Elia Kazan
“Acting… was the biggest charge I ever had. What other artist has it so good? Approval so quick?”
― Elia Kazan
“Why an artist loves what they do is often so hard to describe.”
― Elisabeth Moss
“As a writer, I try to do different things, but I’m not going to become a darker artist or turn into Radiohead overnight. I don’t think that’s my style.”
― Eliza Doolittle
“As a kid, I imagined being an artist.”
― Elizabeth Diller
“2017 saw a slew of big pop and hip-hop records, a number of breakout female singer-songwriters and all-girl bands, and the return of beloved ’60s soul artist Don Bryant and pop star Kesha.”
― Elizabeth Flock
“I never had any preconceived ideas about acting, because I always thought I was going to be a visual artist.”
― Elizabeth Marvel
“Tim Burton is an artist who has had a huge influence on me. I definitely share his sensibility. It’s a joyful approach to darkness.”
― Elizabeth Marvel
“Because it’s difficult to have a career as an artist, and in every situation where it’s difficult to have a career, it’s even harder for women, for all the other reasons that it’s harder in other fiercely contested fields.”
― Elizabeth Price
“Mustard believes in me so much. It’s good to have a mentor that’s been through it. Even though he’s a producer, he’s been a new artist.”
― Ella Mai
“I was raised to be some kind of artist.”
― Ellar Coltrane
“I think that Van Gogh is really the ultimate crazy artist that we all think of.”
― Ellen Forney
“It is one thing for an artist to experiment on a canvas, but it’s entirely different to experiment on a living creature.”
― Ellen Ullman
“What people don’t understand is that how you are as an artist depends on how you are emotionally.”
― Ellie Goulding
“All my work comes from perceiving. I kept seeing things that were brooding in me. I’m not a geometric artist.”
― Ellsworth Kelly
“If you write great songs with meaning and emotion, they will last for ever because songs are the key to everything. Songs will outlast the artist and they will go on for ever if they are good.”
― Elton John
“If an artist is going through a lot of bad publicity, I don’t want to ask them about that. If they want to talk about it, I’ll make them comfortable enough where they can bring that up on their own. Not only do I want them to feel comfortable, I want them to come back.”
― Elvis Duran
“I love taking time with an interview. Time with an artist relaxes them; it makes them want to be there and answer all your questions.”
― Elvis Duran
“The director Steve McQueen has found a way to constantly include the element of surprise in his work, both as an artist and as a filmmaker.”
― Elvis Mitchell
“When I was a little kid I wanted to be an artist or a painter. But once I got into boxing, all I wanted was to box.”
― Emanuel Steward
“Silent films weren’t so different from my comics – the basic choice both offer an artist is what do you show and what do you tell.”
― Emil Ferris
“The art of an artist must be his own art. It is… always a continuous chain of little inventions, little technical discoveries of one’s own, in one’s relation to the tool, the material and the colors.”
― Emil Nolde
“The artist need not know very much; best of all let him work instinctively and paint as naturally as he breathes or walks.”
― Emil Nolde
“What an artist learns matters little. What he himself discovers has a real worth for him, and gives him the necessary incitement to work.”
― Emil Nolde
“Any creation of art is conceived and born under influences, amidst the atmosphere of reverie and the most customary volition of the artist. It is there, in any case, that his work arises from.”
― Emile Galle
“There are two men inside the artist, the poet and the craftsman. One is born a poet. One becomes a craftsman.”
― Emile Zola
“The artist is nothing without the gift, but the gift is nothing without work.”
― Emile Zola
“I am an artist… I am here to live out loud.”
― Emile Zola
“The artist himself may not think he is religious, but if he is sincere his sincerity in itself is religion.”
― Emily Carr
“It’s really hard to write personal songs. I’m not good at writing ditties because as far as writing hit songs that you pitch to the national artist, I just don’t write that way.”
― Emily Robison
“I want to solidify as an artist and show that as I grow as a person and make mistakes and learn from them, I’m going to grow artistically.”
― Eminem
“After touring with David Bowie last year, I was inspired to look at what I wanted to do as an artist, and I realized I wanted to go back to the music I fell in love with when I was eight years old.”
― Emm Gryner
“I would advise dancers, musicians and others in the entertainment industry to take up yoga, as it clears the mind and creates a sense of balance and stillness which is important for any performing artist.”
― Emmanuel Jal
“The body, in ‘La Belle Noiseuse,’ was the source of the artist’s creativity.”
― Emmanuelle Beart
“I’ve always believed applause is food for an artist.”
― Engelbert Humperdinck
“My favourite artist is Beyonce. I also like Jasmine Sullivan.”
― Eniola Aluko
“As an artist, I’ve been very fortunate.”
― Enrique Iglesias
“You no longer have to have a big record label behind you and have to kowtow to the politics that enabled you to get there. You can be a phenomenal artist and put your stuff out there on YouTube and find yourself becoming a star.”
― Eric Bischoff
“I was at Pepperdine University in Malibu, and during my sophomore year, I played a dying burn victim on ‘ER.’ The makeup artist put burn makeup all over my body and I couldn’t move or eat for 12 hours. I lost 8 pounds that week.”
― Eric Christian Olsen
“The most important thing for me as an artist is having an identity.”
― Eric Church
“I don’t feel like I’m an artist with a capital ‘A.’”
― Eric Whitacre
“Maybe ‘Doonby’ will haunt people for awhile and make them wonder, ‘What was that really about?’ And that excites me as an artist.”
― Erin Way
“That terrible mood of depression of whether it’s any good or not is what is known as The Artist’s Reward.”
― Ernest Hemingway
“I have a master plan as an artist. I’ve always said I’m not going to be punching nobody’s clock. I will work as an artist to survive in this world.”
― Erykah Badu
“I believed in myself, and I’ve always worked very, very hard as an artist, and I am an artist in every sense of the word.”
― Erykah Badu
“I’m a performance artist first; I’m a recording artist second.”
― Erykah Badu
“I’ve always been a fan of Nigerian artist D’banj. He’s now signed to Kanye West’s Good Music label.”
― Estelle
“I have to live authentically at all times. And that’s part of what makes me an artist. I’m not scared to do that.”
― Estelle
“I am a black British female artist, so I must be like Ms Dynamite, I must be like Shystie, I must be like Jamelia, but we’re all different.”
― Estelle
“I think every artist strives for a record that crosses all energy, lines, boundaries or languages or barriers.”
― Estelle
“I’m not looking to be an artist to make money. I’m looking to be an artist.”
― Ester Dean
“Barton Fink is just too self-important as an artist to get much sympathy.”
― Ethan Coen
“The arts are not just instantaneous pleasure – if you don’t like it, the artist is wrong. I belong to the generation which says if you don’t like it, you don’t understand and you ought to find out.”
― Ethel Barrymore
“I don’t care who’s playing. Even if it’s my favorite artist, I’m probably not gonna go and see him.”
― Etta James
“Far from wishing to awaken the artist in the pupil prematurely, the teacher considers it his first task to make him a skilled artisan with sovereign control of his craft.”
― Eugen Herrigel
“The artist who aims at perfection in everything achieves it in nothing.”
― Eugene Delacroix
“The artist can be above political parties, he can belong in a political party, he can act in politics.”
― Eugene Ionesco
“I don’t wanna be known as just a hip-hop artist. I wanna take it to a whole ‘nother level.”
― Eve
“As an artist you have the luxury of maybe presenting an issue in a certain way, as opposed to actually solving it.”
― Ezra Koenig
“The modern artist must live by craft and violence. His gods are violent gods. Those artists, so called, whose work does not show this strife, are uninteresting.”
― Ezra Pound
“I often see only my mistakes. I always feel I could have done better. Every artist goes through it.”
― Fahadh Faasil
“I want to be an artist, not be in the business of making hit records. Once I figured that out, everything became clear.”
― Fantastic Negrito
“The artist is the medium between his fantasies and the rest of the world.”
― Federico Fellini
“I’m an entrepreneur, a businessman. I’ve got a lot of money, and that doesn’t go very well with the whole ‘starving artist in a garret’ routine.”
― Felix Dennis
“An artist is attracted to certain kinds of form without knowing why. You adopt a position intuitively; only later do you attempt to rationalize or even justify it.”
― Fernando Botero
“I have the sensation of doing something good for people, more than being a trendy artist or a successful artist.”
― Fernando Botero
“Gucci Mane is my favorite artist.”
― Fetty Wap
“If only the people around you know you’re an artist, then you’re doing something wrong.”
― Fetty Wap
“I don’t see myself as an artist, as a writer. The sort of writing that I do, which is popular fiction, it’s work. I have contracts to fulfil, and I have deadlines to meet.”
― Fiona McIntosh
“If you’re an artist, you have to use everything to your advantage, even the pain.”
― FKA twigs
“I’m an artist, and I’m a bit weird, and I’m probably a bit eccentric.”
― FKA twigs
“I was delivering papers when I was, like, 10 or 11, and I’d always daydream about being an artist as a full-time thing.”
― Flume
“Kendrick is a true genius artist.”
― Flying Lotus
“The shelf life of an artist or musician isn’t particularly long.”
― Frances Bean Cobain
“Can that make any sense – a Belgian artist living in Mexico and working in Afghanistan?”
― Francis Alys
“The job of the artist is always to deepen the mystery.”
― Francis Bacon
“I don’t think there’s any artist of any value who doesn’t doubt what they’re doing.”
― Francis Ford Coppola
“I’m not an artist. I’m a fashion designer of clothes.”
― Francisco Costa
“Being a studio make-up artist and working on magazines was the only thing I wanted to do.”
― Francois Nars
“I wanted to be a make up artist. I did it, and the road that I took was quite good.”
― Francois Nars
“The ’80s and ’90s were the greatest time to be a makeup artist.”
― Francois Nars
“Matisse was my God. I’m a French artist, that’s for sure. I am color-oriented and what you might call a composer. I am not pouring my guts out; I keep them inside.”
― Francoise Gilot
“As soon as I got into music, I tried to be a working, real artist who gets paid for what he does, who doesn’t have a day job.”
― Frank Black
“By the time I was a teenager, I knew I wanted to be an artist. I was a born draftsman and liked all forms of art, so I just knew that’s what I wanted to do.”
― Frank Frazetta
“One of my greatest influences is the Italian artist Gian Lorenzo Bernini.”
― Frank Gehry
“There was nobody telling me, ‘You should be an artist,’ or, ‘You should be an actor.’”
― Frank Grillo
“If I had to pick an artist that I look up to and am inspired by, it’s Matisse because of how many times he would paint the same idea until he felt like he maybe got it right, and I try to do the same thing with my writing.”
― Frankie Cosmos
“Sorrowful and great is the artist’s destiny.”
― Franz Liszt
“Mournful and yet grand is the destiny of the artist.”
― Franz Liszt
“Over the years, El Perro del Mar became this artist that, every record that came out, I just loved it.”
― Fred Armisen
“The way James Franco goes to new projects, he does it the way an artist should, which is with a question mark. Like, will this work?”
― Fred Armisen
“I don’t know if I’m a populist artist, but I do try to maintain a spirit of generosity.”
― Fred Tomaselli
“Every project might only sell like 30 to 50,000, but I mean, I’m getting seven, eight dollars every CD. I make more money per record than an artist on a major label – I can definitely say that.”
― Freddie Gibbs
“Nobody else was saying what he said on air, and sometimes he pushed the envelope when he said the newest Jay Z line with a Michael Jordan highlight. But Stuart Scott was an artist.”
― Freddie Gibbs
“If the newspapers cut me up so much that I shall not venture before the world again, I have resolved to become a house painter; that would be as easy as anything else, and I should, at any rate, still be an artist!”
― Frederic Chopin
“I don’t like to treat a piece of clothing like an object of art because I don’t consider myself an artist. I’m a designer.”
― Frida Giannini
“An artist has no home in Europe except in Paris.”
― Friedrich Nietzsche
“No doubt the artist is the child of his time; but woe to him if he is also its disciple, or even its favorite.”
― Friedrich Schiller
“I am not an artist. I am a craftsman.”
― Fritz Lang
“I’m not just a hip-hop artist; I feel like I’m a rock star.”
― Future
“Where I know I wanna go is being consistent on business, and that’s just making another artist, my clothing line – capitalizing off the moment. I wanna be consistently doing that – capitalizing off every move I make.”
― Future
“If I’m the biggest artist in the world, cool, but I want to just be me.”
― Future
“I’m not trying to feed off of a concept that another artist had – that’s not what I do.”
― Future
“I think every artist’s next work will reflect a new chapter in their autobiography. Each album tells a story about where they were at during a particular period and how they have evolved.”
― G-Eazy
“Albums serve as paragraphs in an artist’s autobiography.”
― G-Eazy
“My synesthesia is mostly gone – it was a much bigger factor when I was a kid. But having no depth perception is a bonus when you’re trying to lay out flat images and describe them to an artist – flat is all I see.”
― G. Willow Wilson
“I’m an artist. So if acting doesn’t work out, which I hope it does, I’m probably going to go into graphic design or something like that.”
― Gabriel Basso
“Her mother, Laurie Simmons, is a contemporary artist, and my stepmother, Cindy Sherman, is a photographer, so they’ve known each other forever. Lena and I were often at the same dinner parties when we were kids.”
― Gaby Hoffmann
“People just decided I was an R&B artist because I’m black.”
― Gallant
“I once saw an elaborate landscape in a gallery, drawn in pencil, that took my breath away. Then I realized the artist probably didn’t have enough confidence to use a pen.”
― Garry Shandling
“That’s what you want to do as an older artist – you want to reinvent, but there has to be that vein in there for why people were listening to you before in the first place.”
― Garth Brooks
“I don’t think the label makes the artist or the artist makes the label. It’s the music that makes everything work or not.”
― Garth Brooks
“I’m worried a lot of our work day as artists is a producer’s creation – not an artist’s creation.”
― Garth Brooks
“Everything about the music industry takes away from you as an artist. They’re always wondering what the next thing is: ‘What do you have?’ It’s a very introverted process.”
― Gary Allan
“My desire to be an artist really came out of being broke and unemployed and incapable of holding a job down. That’s what it was driven by for sure.”
― Gary Hume
“I do think you get lonelier and lonelier being an artist as you get older.”
― Gary Hume
“I’m probably not going to develop to a final state as an artist. Like, become better and better, more and more refined. Become ‘pure.’ I don’t think that’s going to happen to me, because I don’t really see that as something I want to explore.”
― Gary Hume
“I have to take it as a given that I have got a certain ability to do something. I can be an artist, which is take something and transform it into another thing. I can just see something, and I can see my painting.”
― Gary Hume
“We lived on a farm in the English countryside, where we wrote a lot of our music. You really were treated like an artist during those days-not like product, which is now the mode.”
― Gary Wright
“I was the first artist, I think, to ever do an all-keyboard album. There were things that resembled it, like Stevie Wonder. A lot of his stuff was on keyboards, but he used brass and he used other things as well. I was the first artist, also, to use drum machines. I was really the one who kind of started that whole thing.”
― Gary Wright
“I was an arts student. I did graphic design. Being an artist, I did a lot of paintings. I have always had that creative side to me.”
― Gauri Khan
“I was an artist before I got into interiors.”
― Gauri Khan
“As an artist, you’re pretty sheltered backstage. You often don’t know what’s going on out there.”
― Gavin Rossdale
“To be able to write ‘Superman,’ to be able to work with the legendary artist who is John Romita Jr., I signed on as soon as I could.”
― Gene Luen Yang
“The project that I did between ‘Boxer & Saints’ was ‘The Shadow Hero,’ which is illustrated by Sonny Liew, an artist who lives in Singapore.”
― Gene Luen Yang
“Any artist should stay challenged as long as possible.”
― Genesis P-Orridge
“To be an ‘artist’ is as much a calling from and to a divine service as becoming a physician, nurse, priest, shaman, or healer.”
― Genesis P-Orridge
“Even if the world outside is destroying itself and fragmented and paranoid and fearful, the job of the artist is to embrace and hold people and say, ‘It’s OK, be safe here.’”
― Genesis P-Orridge
“Curiosity is a great weapon for the artist.”
― Genesis P-Orridge
“One of the things that sells music is when the artist is looked at as someone who’s come up from the streets. Not just any streets, but the toughest, meanest streets of the urban ghetto. And that’s called ‘street credibility.’”
― Geoffrey Canada
“The artist is not responsible to any one. His social role is asocial… his only responsibility consists in an attitude to the work he does.”
― Georg Baselitz
“Producing has empowered me as an artist in a specific way. It’s forced a certain kind of maturity.”
― George C. Wolfe
“Commercial theater, in its agenda to appeal to everybody, is often at the expense of the unique vision of the artist.”
― George C. Wolfe
“The best of any artist is in their art.”
― George C. Wolfe
“All the things that can happen to an artist regardless of how prepared they are and how smart they are and hard-working they are and attractive – doesn’t matter. There’s always somebody cuter. There just is.”
― George C. Wolfe
“A great artist is always before his time or behind it.”
― George Edward Moore
“It is not meant that the artist, in arriving at truth, must follow the way of the scientist, or, in stating it, the way of the philosopher.”
― George Edward Woodberry
“Mankind is the grandest and surest artist of all, and history as it clarifies is, in pure fact, an artistic process, a creation in its fullness of the beautiful soul.”
― George Edward Woodberry
“The thing is, I’ll always be a touring artist. It’s what I am; that’s what I love doing.”
― George Ezra
“I’ve achieved what every artist wants, which is that some of their work will outlive them.”
― George Michael
“The transition state of manners and language cannot be too often insisted upon: for this affected the process at both ends, giving the artist in fictitious life an uncertain model to copy and unstable materials to work in.”
― George Saintsbury
“The artist vocation is to send light into the human heart.”
― George Sand
“An artist is a dreamer consenting to dream of the actual world.”
― George Santayana
“Data is what distinguishes the dilettante from the artist.”
― George V. Higgins
“The artist discards all theories, both his own and those of others. He forgets everything when he is in front of his canvas.”
― Georges Rouault
“The conscience of an artist worthy of the name is like an incurable disease which causes him endless torment but occasionally fills him with silent joy.”
― Georges Rouault
“Originality depends only on the character of the drawing and the vision peculiar to each artist.”
― Georges Seurat
“I was a big fan of Jean-Claude Van-Damme growing up, and I always wanted to be a martial artist ’cause of him.”
― Georges St-Pierre
“I rebelled against the idea of the artist being what I call the ‘after-dinner mint’ of society. I didn’t want them to be just the entertainers, but rather part of the community – the bread, not only the dessert.”
― Gian Carlo Menotti
“I pay attention to how every makeup artist does everything.”
― Gigi Hadid
“The man who throws a bomb is an artist, because he prefers a great moment to everything.”
― Gilbert K. Chesterton
“Frankly, I get sick of being considered a ‘young woman filmmaker’ rather than an individual artist, as a man would be.”
― Gillian Armstrong
“Every person has parallel tracks. You have your personal life or your life as an artist, or whatever it is you do.”
― Gina Bellman
“I can live in L.A. as a struggling artist. I cannot live in New York as a struggling artist.”
― Gina Rodriguez
“A half dozen pictures would just about be enough for the life of an artist, for my life.”
― Giorgio Morandi
“I think it would be nice to sell 15 million albums as a solo artist. I’d have to deal with all the repercussions of that, but that wouldn’t be too bad.”
― Glenn Frey
“To me, the ideal artist-to-audience relationship is a one-to-zero relationship. The artist should be granted anonymity.”
― Glenn Gould
“I don’t know if I would describe myself as a political artist.”
― Glenn Ligon
“In ’89, I got a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts. That’s when I started to get into group shows. Suddenly, I sort of ‘came out’ as an artist.”
― Glenn Ligon
“It’s an artist’s job to always have their antennas up.”
― Glenn Ligon
“As an artist, you dream about accumulating enough successful music to someday do just one greatest-hits album, but to reach the point where you’re releasing your second collection of hits is beyond belief.”
― Gloria Estefan
“I have a private press. I’m a book artist. I publish books of other authors and artists. I do the illustrating. I set the type. I print it myself on my press. I do everything but bind it.”
― Gloria Stuart
“Sam Wood, the director, made most of his money as a real estate agent; there was nothing of the temperamental artist about him.”
― Gloria Swanson
“Imagine spending seven years at MIT and research laboratories, only to find out that you’re a performance artist.”
― Golan Levin
“Glorious bouquets and storms of applause are the trimmings which every artist naturally enjoys.”
― Golda Meir
“No student of history can fail to see the moral interest of the Middle Ages, any more than an artist can fail to see their aesthetic interest.”
― Goldwin Smith
“I’m a commercial artist, both in music and art.”
― Grace Slick
“The artist I would love to be is inspiring and strong: show that I can be vulnerable but still independent.”
― Grace VanderWaal
“Ever since I was a kid, I might have been eleven or twelve. I’d be telling anyone who would listen that when I grew up, I wanted to be an artist.”
― Graeme Base
“Being an artist, it’s all a journey, and you learn where the subtle patterns lie.”
― Graeme Base
“A primitive artist is an amateur whose work sells.”
― Grandma Moses
“I try not to force my sound on everybody. I try to yield unto each artist and… I try to just support that sound rather than force a sound that might not fit.”
― Greg Kurstin
“There is a sequence in my ‘Detective Comics’ run where you can’t find consecutive issues by the same artist. That’s intentional. That was done on purpose.”
― Greg Rucka
“’The Disaster Artist’ book is the peak of my career in many ways, but there’s something so rewarding about creating something from scratch.”
― Greg Sestero
“James Franco, Seth Rogen, and Evan Goldberg are the ideal guys to adapt ‘The Disaster Artist.’”
― Greg Sestero
“After ‘The Room’ premiered in 2003 – which went exactly as it does in ‘The Disaster Artist’ – I didn’t think it was going to go anywhere. It wasn’t a film I wanted to share with people.”
― Greg Sestero
“’The Disaster Artist’ isn’t really about ‘The Room.’ It’s about friendship and how dreams can come true.”
― Greg Sestero
“As an artist, what you do represents who you are. Coming from a genuine, honest place – that’s what I’m trying to do.”
― Gretchen Parlato
“If I could collaborate with any artist, I would want it to be like Marvin Gaye. Someone like who they wouldn’t expect me to do a feature with, like, very iconic.”
― Gunna
“If a new artist comes, and he doesn’t have a good record label to invest in him, then there is no point.”
― Guru Randhawa
“Bruno Mars. He is my favourite artist, and I always look forward to see him perform live.”
― Guru Randhawa
“If someone has given a hit in the industry, and everyone talks about the song and artist, that’s a hit.”
― Guru Randhawa
“A lot of artists have a super-specific musical hero they definitely try to hone in on. I’m basically inspired by everyone. I don’t have one particular artist who I’m super-obsessed with.”
― Gus Dapperton
“The expression of beauty is in direct ratio to the power of conception the artist has acquired.”
― Gustave Courbet
“The artist must be in his work as God is in creation, invisible and all-powerful; one must sense him everywhere but never see him.”
― Gustave Flaubert
“My grandfather was not a musician but he was an artist – a painter, a decorative painter.”
― Gyorgy Ligeti
“I think, for myself, as an artist, the progression is a lyrical progression and what I choose to target my lyrics at and how I construct the rhymes.”
― Gza
“I had rather be called a journalist than an artist.”
― H. G. Wells
“I think, by nature, human beings are curious. And I think that’s only amplified as an artist.”
― Haley Bennett
“My mom was an artist, and she had this amazing ability to transform everything into something beautiful.”
― Haley Bennett
“Every art expression is rooted fundamentally in the personality and temperament of the artist.”
― Hans Hofmann
“Creation is dominated by three absolutely different factors: First, nature, which works upon us by its laws; second, the artist, who creates a spiritual contact with nature and his materials; third, the medium of expression through which the artist translates his inner world.”
― Hans Hofmann
“I see a curator as a catalyst, generator and motivator – a sparring partner, accompanying the artist while they build a show, and a bridge builder, creating a bridge to the public.”
― Hans-Ulrich Obrist
“At a certain time, an artist needs a big retrospective. At other times, they need a more focused exhibition. It’s a different story each time; it’s about establishing a dialogue.”
― Hans-Ulrich Obrist
“There is nothing deeper than to work for a year with the same artist.”
― Hans-Ulrich Obrist
“Mr. Koons’s work has always inspired architects, which I think is very interesting. I think he is an artist who has reinvented himself so many times and reinvented so many different series.”
― Hans-Ulrich Obrist
“Numerous are the posthumous museums and memorials devoted exclusively to one artist, architect or author and designed to preserve or artificially reconstruct the namesake’s original working or living conditions.”
― Hans-Ulrich Obrist
“I grew up in adoration of writers like Hemingway, George Orwell, Anna Akhmatova, and that has always been my idea about the artist – that you have to be a brave and freedom-loving person.”
― Haris Pasovic
“The aim of every authentic artist is not to conform to the history of art, but to release himself from it in order to replace it with his own history.”
― Harold Rosenberg
“I did a film called ‘The Escape Artist’ for Francis Coppola. I had the title role.”
― Harry Anderson
“What the artist owes the world is his work; not a model for living.”
― Harry Crews
“At the age of 80, I’m becoming a visual artist. This could be my rebirth.”
― Harry Seidler
“I don’t think of myself as an artist. I’m just a guy who can write.”
― Haruki Murakami
“I write scripts in storyboard fashion using stick figures, and thought balloons and word balloons and captions. Then I’ll write descriptions of what scenes should look like and turn it over to the artist.”
― Harvey Pekar
“Every artist writes his own autobiography.”
― Havelock Ellis
“I felt like people weren’t going to accept me as a pop artist.”
― Hayley Kiyoko
“The hardest thing for an artist to do is to let go. I don’t wanna be the dude – if you come to my house, there are no pictures circa ’86 in my house.”
― Heavy D
“As an artist, there were different levels in my career that brought me to a realization that I am what you would call a pure artist. And I don’t say that with any type of vanity.”
― Heavy D
“I knew I wanted to be an artist at age 5 or 6. I always drew. At 8, I was permitted to study.”
― Hedda Sterne
“I don’t think I could not have been with an artist of some kind, someone creative.”
― Heidi Klum
“Whether you are sixteen or over sixty, remember, understatement is the rule of a fine makeup artist.”
― Helena Rubinstein
“An artist must possess Nature. He must identify himself with her rhythm, by efforts that will prepare the mastery which will later enable him to express himself in his own language.”
― Henri Matisse
“It is only after years of preparation that the young artist should touch color – not color used descriptively, that is, but as a means of personal expression.”
― Henri Matisse
“I’m a fighter now. I’m officially a mixed martial artist. I’m not a wrestler no more.”
― Henry Cejudo
“An artist is always alone – if he is an artist. No, what the artist needs is loneliness.”
― Henry Miller
“The worst sin that can be committed against the artist is to take him at his word, to see in his work a fulfillment instead of an horizon.”
― Henry Miller
“I decided on the spot that I would be an artist, and I assure you, it was no ordinary artist I had in mind.”
― Henry Ossawa Tanner
“The physical characteristics of the child Jesus will always remain a point of discussion. No artist has ever produced a type, nor ever will, that has in it all that the varying minds of all time will acknowledge as complete.”
― Henry Ossawa Tanner
“I’ve always seen it as the role of an artist to drag his inside out, give the audience all you’ve got. Writers, actors, singers, all good artists do the same. It isn’t supposed to be easy.”
― Henry Rollins
“Motivation has always been a fascinating factor when considering a touring artist, especially when the years stack up. What keeps one out there year after year?”
― Henry Rollins
“For many, an album is no longer a considerable feat of an artist but just sounds to be half-listened to while one is halfheartedly engaged in something else.”
― Henry Rollins
“Every artist dips his brush in his own soul, and paints his own nature into his pictures.”
― Henry Ward Beecher
“You know, the record business is much different than being artist on stage.”
― Herb Alpert
“In 1996, after 29 years as an artist for Marvel Comics, I got fired – 56 years old, two children still in college, and no job.”
― Herb Trimpe
“The sensitive artist knows that a bitter wind is blowing.”
― Herbert Read
“I always saw myself as a multi media artist.”
― Holly Johnson
“I always wrote, you know, but it was just this thing I did; what I intended was to become a terribly famous artist, perhaps with a stopover as a singer.”
― Holly Lisle
“Part of being an artist is being willing to be shocked, being willing to be surprised, being willing to be hurt.”
― Holly Near
“I am isolated as an artist, not as a person.”
― Howard Hodgkin
“No traveller ever sets out with so little idea of where he is going or how he is going to get there than an artist does. And no traveller ever gets to a more wonderful place.”
― Howard Jacobson
“Before I reached 10 years old, I knew I was going to be an artist.”
― Howard Terpning
“There are a lot of recurring themes that I resonated with when I read ‘A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man.’”
― Hozier
“I always thought of myself as a very, very obscure artist.”
― Hozier
“As an artist, I am very proud of ‘Ek Thi Daayan.’ It was a supernatural flick and a huge risk, since not many films are made like that.”
― Huma Qureshi
“Fiction is based on reality unless you’re a fairytale artist.”
― Hunter S. Thompson
“I should have been a much better artist if I could have studied more and amused myself less.”
― Ida Rentoul Outhwaite
“You can’t be the vulnerable, transparent, raw person required to be an artist, and then cover that stuff up and meet the world with some kind of armor on. It just doesn’t go.”
― Idina Menzel
“Not every artist is a role model.”
― Iggy Azalea
“What gives the artist real prestige is his imitators.”
― Igor Stravinsky
“Rap isn’t that time-consuming for me, compared to an ordinary artist. I do not stay in the studio all day.”
― Iman Shumpert
“I just would like to be challenged. I want to push myself to the limit, and constantly challenge myself and grow as an artist. That’s where I want to go. Explore different things, different characters, in film, and just everything!”
― Imani Hakim
“I always loved music, but I didn’t know if I could be the kind of artist that makes a difference.”
― India Arie
“The smallest wound or pain of the ego is examined under a microscope as if it were of eternal importance. The artist considers his isolation, his subjectivity, his individualism almost holy.”
― Ingmar Bergman
“Where I come from, if you weren’t a drag queen or a radical thinker or a performance artist of some kind, you were the weirdo.”
― iO Tillett Wright
“Being an artist is in part an act of rupture.”
― Ira Sachs
“I realize I have strength as an artist and professional by embracing my difference instead of what makes me the same.”
― Ira Sachs
“The great thing about Ticketmaster is that it’s seen as the comprehensive site for ticketing, artist information, venue information. We’re a marketing platform, not just a technology platform, and we’re going to build on it.”
― Irving Azoff
“In America, we have the feeling of the doomed young artist. Fitzgerald was the great example of that.”
― Irwin Shaw
“One of the things I want to do as an artist is to connect generations.”
― Isaac Hanson
“Our first manager really pushed that we not sell our publishing rights, which is one of the earliest things an artist will do: They’ll sell in order to get a cash advance.”
― Isaac Hanson
“As an artist or musician, you want to be remembered for the music you make.”
― Isaac Hanson
“Someone who is an artist can say, ‘I can create and can make what I create disappear.’”
― Isabelle Adjani
“As no man is born an artist, so no man is born an angler.”
― Izaak Walton
“Behind every big artist, there’s a big team.”
― J Balvin
“I am a YouTube artist.”
― J Balvin
“The worst thing that being an artist could do to you would be that it would make you slightly unhappy constantly.”
― J. D. Salinger
“An artist’s only concern is to shoot for some kind of perfection, and on his own terms, not anyone else’s.”
― J. D. Salinger
“I’m tryna be the biggest artist I could be.”
― J.I.D
“My role now is as an artist and as a mogul to inspire and give others opportunities.”
― Ja Rule
“The most difficult thing for me as an artist, as a creator of music, is lyrics. But everything else, I just do it.”
― Jack Garratt
“Did any artist ever bring more pure joy to more people than Fred Astaire?”
― Jack Kroll
“I always knew would be some sort of artist, but didn’t know what.”
― Jack Prelutsky
“I sometimes just don’t like to see the Ultimate Fighting. I just find it, as a martial artist, I just find it too violent.”
― Jackie Chan
“There was never any effort made out there to improve the artist.”
― Jackie Cooper
“Painting is self-discovery. Every good artist paints what he is.”
― Jackson Pollock
“The modern artist… is working and expressing an inner world – in other words – expressing the energy, the motion, and other inner forces.”
― Jackson Pollock
“There are infinite modes of expression in the world of art, and to insist that only by one road can the artist attain his ends is to limit him.”
― Jacob Epstein
“The artist who imagines that he puts his best into a portrait in order to produce something good, which will be a pleasure to the sitter and to himself, will have some bitter experiences.”
― Jacob Epstein
“I’m the type of artist who touches people, that’s the type of artist that I am.”
― Jacob Lusk
“I’m still finding myself as an artist. I’m still experimenting a little bit.”
― Jacob Whitesides
“An artist has every right – one may even say a duty – to exhibit his productions as prominently as he can.”
― Jacques Barzun
“By the time I was 9, I had the conviction that everybody in the world was an artist except plumbers or people who delivered groceries.”
― Jacques Barzun
“Copy nature and you infringe on the work of our Lord. Interpret nature and you are an artist.”
― Jacques Lipchitz
“To give a body and a perfect form to one’s thought, this – and only this – is to be an artist.”
― Jacques-Louis David
“When I like an artist, especially a female artist, I really try to support.”
― Jain
“As a fan and collector of ‘MAD’ magazines as a kid, I am well aware that my art is unworthy. I remain in absolute awe of ‘MAD’ artist Mort Drucker and loved Wally Wood and Harvey Kurtzman and Al Jaffee and Don Martin and Angelo Torres and Peter Kuper and Sergio Aragones.”
― Jake Tapper
“Dr. Dre is the most influential artist and producer in hip-hop history.”
― Jalen Rose
“The arrogance of the artist is a very profound thing, and it fortifies you.”
― James A. Michener
“When you find fame, or you get signed to a record label, it’s not what you imagined – because you imagined they would have 100 percent trust or faith in you as an artist. Unfortunately, that’s not really the case – it’s what sells.”
― James Arthur
“The primary distinction of the artist is that he must actively cultivate that state which most men, necessarily, must avoid; the state of being alone.”
― James Baldwin
“There should be an element of mystique between the fans and the artist. That bit between the stage and the audience. I think that’s necessary.”
― James Bay
“As a singer-songwriter, a solo artist with a guitar, I can only write so many weepie little bedroom songs.”
― James Bay
“It’s silly to call me the new Ed Sheeran. He can fill stadiums as a solo artist, but I’m not like that.”
― James Bay
“My mother was a housewife but she was also an artist. My father was an electrical engineer.”
― James Cameron
“I like the idea of the artist going out in the world, creating a dialogue.”
― James De La Vega
“I think as an artist or a writer it’s OK to want to control your own work.”
― James Frey
“Scratch an artist and you surprise a child.”
― James Huneker
“I love a lot of the New York bands, but Patti Smith stands out. I just read ‘Just Kids’ and it’s an inspirational, well-written account of an emerging New York artist in the late seventies.”
― James Iha
“The artist, like the God of the creation, remains within or behind or beyond or above his handiwork, invisible, refined out of existence, indifferent, paring his fingernails.”
― James Joyce
“I’m an artist, and an artist doesn’t worry about being politically correct when I write.”
― James L. Dolan
“I went to the University of Minnesota, and I met this amazing artist named Cameron Boothe there who was in World War I, who studied with Hans Hoffman in Munich.”
― James Rosenquist
“The best thing about being an artist is the free clothing and getting to kiss pretty girls.”
― James Rosenquist
“I’ve always considered myself a nonfiction artist.”
― James Sanborn
“The aim of the poet, or other artist, is first to make something; and it’s impossible to make something out of words and not communicate.”
― James Schuyler
“That’s the motivation of an artist – to seek attention of some kind.”
― James Taylor
“Unless artists can remember what it was to be a little boy, they are only half complete as artist and as man.”
― James Thurber
“If you’re not an optimist, forget being an artist.”
― James Turrell
“Nowhere in the job description of an artist is the requirement that I must validate your taste.”
― James Turrell
“The wonderful thing about being an artist in L.A. is that there is no taste. There’s anarchy of taste, which seems good to me.”
― James Turrell
“The ego certainly is the biggest obstacle as an artist or performer, so any chance you get to destroy that is really healthy.”
― James Van Der Beek
“It’s like half the campaign of selling a record is trying to convince people that you’re an artist. Well, I am an artist. This is what I do.”
― James Vincent McMorrow
“An artist’s career always begins tomorrow.”
― James Whistler
“An artist is not paid for his labor but for his vision.”
― James Whistler
“I want to learn – there’s so much I have to learn about what it takes to be a recording artist, about what it takes to go on tour.”
― James Wolpert
“That’s my contribution – running a sound, healthy company that serves millions of customers well and employs hundreds of thousands of people. What else am I going to do? I’m not an artist. I’m not a writer. I’m not a musician. I’d love to be a tennis player or musician. I’m not.”
― Jamie Dimon
“Quentin Tarantino is a hip-hop artist. I told him, ‘You’re hip-hop!’ You keep seeing surprises, and a clip here and there, because Quentin is hip-hop. A hip-hop artist will drop a single, leak something over here, and drop something over there ’cause he knows it’s hot. He’s on the spot with the way he does things.”
― Jamie Foxx
“To be an artist is to doubt yourself and try harder.”
― Jamie Hewlett
“To me, being in the studio is one of the most exciting parts about being an artist.”
― Jamie Lynn Spears
“I have had this longstanding interest in going back to school to get a Ph.D. in art history. I was especially interested in exploring this idea of the ecstatic impulse in an artist.”
― Jandy Nelson
“An artist cannot do anything slovenly.”
― Jane Austen
“I’ve never met any artist who illustrated one of my books, although I’ve corresponded briefly with one. I have always been impressed by the technical expertise involved in the covers, even if sometimes puzzled by the subject matter.”
― Jane Lindskold
“I think, because I’m an artist, part of my job is to be a barometer, an antenna. It’s in the air and it resonates with a lot of people to lighten up.”
― Jane Siberry
“We don’t all have to take the same coordinates to get to the same destination. Being a young African American female artist, I want to open doors for young black girls.”
― Janelle Monae
“As an artist, you can never get what you want. What you do never approaches what you want it to be.”
― Janet Fitch
“I always wanted to be an artist, whatever that was, like other chicks want to be stewardesses. I read. I painted. I thought.”
― Janis Joplin
“I think that to explore the uncomfortable and the politically incorrect is the job of the artist.”
― Jared Leto
“My mother was a very talented artist. When she was in jail, we’d write letters back and forth; that was pretty much the only form of communication we had.”
― Jarrett J. Krosoczka
“Every single item that we come into contact with on a daily basis has been designed by an artist. From the toothbrush we use in the morning, to the defibrillator that could save our lives, an artist is behind the design.”
― Jarrett J. Krosoczka
“Imagine being 30 years old, thinking you were a media titan, and now you are labeled a ‘scam artist.’”
― Jason Calacanis
“I don’t think I’m a country artist, really. I’m a country person, but I don’t think I’m necessarily a country singer or musician.”
― Jason Isbell
“I feel a lot of guilt about the freedom that being an artist provides. I ask myself, ‘Why am I not the guy emptying the trash, why am I the guy who is watching the guy empty the trash?’”
― Jason Molina
“I grew up being an artist, but also rock-climbing and traveling the world and teaching my kids.”
― Jason Momoa
“You’re supposed to be a control freak when you’re an artist. That’s the whole point of having a vision: Why have one if you’re not going to protect it?”
― Jason Robert Brown
“As a media artist and filmmaker, I’m constantly considering the role of situational context when creating my work.”
― Jason Silva
“To be an artist you have to give up everything, including the desire to be a good artist.”
― Jasper Johns
“The only logical thing I can think of is that I knew there were such things as artists, and I knew there were none where I lived. So I knew that to be an artist you had to be somewhere else. And I very much wanted to be somewhere else.”
― Jasper Johns
“You learn really quickly how not only to be an artist, but you also become all of a sudden the CEO and owners of a company that you have to make major decisions about that I don’t think we were fully prepared for in the beginning.”
― Jay DeMarcus
“I had to live on $17,000 a year until I was 33, because I was a failed artist until I was 29, when I made my first short film that went to Sundance.”
― Jay Duplass
“I wanna be the most successful socially aware artist: Grammys, number one singles, albums, overseas and internationally-known household name, all that.”
― Jay IDK
“You tend to find the best in yourself as an artist when you’re challenged.”
― Jay Kristoff
“Roc was only supposed to be our distributor, but then they ended up recruiting me as the label’s artist. They said they really liked my album ‘Everything You Wanted.’”
― Jay Park
“I think it’s very important for hip-hop, when an artist reaches a certain level, to ascend to executive work.”
― Jay-Z
“I was forced to be an artist and a CEO from the beginning, so I was forced to be like a businessman because when I was trying to get a record deal, it was so hard to get a record deal on my own that it was either give up or create my own company.”
― Jay-Z
“I was an artist, I was executive producer on my first album, so I’ve always had to manage both. I couldn’t get a record deal. It wasn’t by choice – I couldn’t get a record deal, so I had to figure it out.”
― Jay-Z
“One must be a living man and a posthumous artist.”
― Jean Cocteau
“Asking an artist to talk about his work is like asking a plant to discuss horticulture.”
― Jean Cocteau
“An original artist is unable to copy. So he has only to copy in order to be original.”
― Jean Cocteau
“An artist cannot speak about his art any more than a plant can discuss horticulture.”
― Jean Cocteau
“I am not a black artist, I am an artist.”
― Jean-Michel Basquiat
“My favorite Twombly is ‘Apollo and the Artist,’ with the big ‘Apollo’ written across it.”
― Jean-Michel Basquiat
“I have done only two portraits: one of the artist Francesco Clemente and another of Andy Warhol.”
― Jean-Michel Basquiat
“From the outside, being an artist seems like a dream life, but there are much darker aspects to it.”
― Jean-Michel Jarre
“It is helpful for a woman artist not to have a husband.”
― Jeanette Winterson
“I gradually work myself into a frenzy as the shoot approaches, while we’re choosing the costumes or working with the make-up artist. I’m not so much interested in my character as the film itself.”
― Jeanne Moreau
“My older sister achieved her dream of being an artist. She’s an illustrator living in Manhattan.”
― Jeannette Walls
“Everything Ticketmaster stands for is what we’re fighting against. They’re just a small cog in a machine where the artist is at the bottom.”
― Jeff Ament
“It gives me more breadth as an actor and as an artist to not be pigeonholed.”
― Jeff Bridges
“I’ve always enjoyed feeling a connection to the avant-garde, such as Dada and surrealism and pop art. The only thing the artist can do is be honest with themselves and make the art they want to make. That’s what I’ve always done.”
― Jeff Koons
“As an artist, I’ve always wanted to participate in the dialogue of art with other artists.”
― Jeff Koons
“I try to be a truthful artist and I try to show a level of courage. I enjoy that. I’m a messenger.”
― Jeff Koons
“When you have an idea for a work and when you’ve finished your model for it, for the artist it’s almost complete, in a way. But then bringing it to the finish is really something you do for the audience. It is always exciting.”
― Jeff Koons
“I think you always, as an artist, feel like you would like to be more and more specific about your intent and your interests.”
― Jeff Koons
“I always found the concept of a tortured artist distasteful.”
― Jeff Tweedy
“I’ve always been a ‘write first’ artist: the drawings are always in service of the writing.”
― Jeffrey Brown
“I was an artist – I fancied myself an artist – I sold paintings at bars to pay my rent.”
― Jeffrey Dean Morgan
“In the 1970s when I started in the art world, no self-respecting artist would have stood in line to try to get on a television show. It never would have happened.”
― Jeffrey Deitch
“That period, doing ‘Angels in America’ in ’94 and then filming with ‘Basquiat’ in ’95, those were gateway years for me as an artist. Two gateways, one into the film industry and one into the world of theater, each formative to me in different, equally essential ways.”
― Jeffrey Wright
“When I started off as an actor, the last thing I wanted to do in the world was make money. I was under the impression, when I started off as an actor, that the more money I made, the more it would diminish from my creativity and my capacity to be an artist.”
― Jeffrey Wright
“On September 11, 2015, only hours before my mother passed away, I learned that the man I planned to build a life with was a convicted felon and con artist whose criminal career spans more than 25 years.”
― Jenifer Lewis
“Not to compare an actor to a painter, but you can go through different phases and still be the same artist, y’know?”
― Jennifer Jason Leigh
“I’ve always had so much admiration for my mom. She’s so inspiring as a woman and as an artist.”
― Jennifer Jason Leigh
“On the worst days, I don’t feel like an artist.”
― Jenny Holzer
“I never envisioned myself as a solo artist; I was always part of a band.”
― Jenny Lewis
“I’m a folk artist at heart.”
― Jenny Scheinman
“R. Kelly is one of the pioneers that I grew up listening to. If he’s classified as an R&B artist, then I want to be like that. I don’t want to have limits either.”
― Jeremih
“I’m very attracted to schematic structures. My brother is a chemical engineer, he has a very mathematical mind, and he’s also a visual artist. I think we have a lot in common. And my first film had a very tight structure, narratively.”
― Jeremy Podeswa
“I was a sandwich artist at Subway and can still rattle off the order of toppings. I was fired because I got meatball sauce on the ivory cutting boards.”
― Jeremy Sisto
“I’m very good at separating things, and one of the things that I’ve always separated is that my business from one artist to the next has nothing to do with each other.”
― Jermaine Dupri
“As an artist, the most important thing and the most special thing is when your intention shines through on the work.”
― Jerrod Carmichael
“I’ve probably represented almost every major artist in the world, either directly or peripherally, at one time or another.”
― Jerry Heller
“I’m an artist and I can draw very well. I’m amazed that everybody can’t draw well because I can do it so effortlessly.”
― Jerry Lawler
“Elizabeth Peyton, the artist known for tiny, dazzling portraits of radiant youth, is now painting tiny, dazzling portraits of radiant middle age.”
― Jerry Saltz
“Put yourself in the position of an up-and-coming artist living in early-sixteenth-century Italy. Now imagine trying to distinguish yourself from the other artists living in your town: Michelangelo, Raphael, Leonardo, or Titian. Is it any wonder that the Italian High Renaissance lasted only 30 years?”
― Jerry Saltz
“Calling a young artist ‘great’ these days can give one the heebie-jeebies: The word has been denatured in the past decade.”
― Jerry Saltz
“The German ueber-photographer Andreas Gursky was the perfect pre-9/11 artist.”
― Jerry Saltz
“Only an artist as preternaturally acute and copacetic, as oddly visionary and just odd as Richard Artschwager, would be able to lay out the whole course of human evolution and have it make some kind of sense while also seeming like a dazzling insight.”
― Jerry Saltz
“I think of myself more as a sportsman than I do an artist.”
― Jerry Seinfeld
“As an artist, I feel a certain responsibility to write about difficult subject matter.”
― Jesmyn Ward
“Everyone in my family is an artist in some capacity whether they’re musicians, painters, or sculptors, so it’s in their blood.”
― Jessica Alba
“As a solo artist, my desire is to express myself through my music.”
― Jessica Jung
“During ‘Idol,’ I wasn’t expecting anything. I just wanted to survive the competition, but my album and my music are a big part of who I am. Hopefully it translates well and I keep growing as an artist.”
― Jessica Sanchez
“On ‘Idol,’ you have to show off your vocal abilities, so I stuck to the ballads, so I’m glad my first single is ‘Tonight’ so I can show off my fun, young side, and what I want to do as an artist.”
― Jessica Sanchez
“I’m not that kind of publicity, attention-grabber type of artist.”
― Jessica Simpson
“When I signed a record deal, I was always told by execs I needed to be like everybody else, that I had to show my midriff, things that would take away from who I want to be as an artist.”
― Jessica Simpson
“Modelling, it’s being an artist as well. It’s just being a silent artist. It takes a lot of self-control and a lot of discipline.”
― Jessica White
“I’m an artist, but I’m also a businesswoman, and sometimes you have to play hard.”
― Jessie J
“I always wanted to be an artist; being a songwriter for myself was always a must but being a songwriter for others has been a bonus.”
― Jessie J
“I’m glad I’ve had to struggle. It’s made me the artist I am now.”
― Jessie J
“As an artist, I try and be controversial, and I have been a bit offensive at times. I have a view on the burka, and I’m sure a few of the Muslim girls and their families would have a view of me on stage in next to nothing!”
― Jessie J
“If I wasn’t doing music, I would be a makeup artist.”
― Jessie James Decker
“I don’t know if I should say this, but I feel more like a singer than an artist.”
― Jessie Ware
“Amazingly, I’ve been sort of an anomaly in the music industry. I feel like I’ve been able to exist as kind of a throwback artist.”
― Jewel
“I think it’s the job of the artist to reflect the times and also reflect his or her views of the world.”
― Jidenna
“I think all any artist or person wants to do is grow spiritually, emotionally, professionally and mentally.”
― Jill Scott
“As a musician, I have always refrained from criticizing another artist.”
― Jill Sobule
“My purpose as an artist is to heal the divided feminine in our culture. Well, okay wait, that sounds incredibly cheesy and like something a massage therapist might do at Esalen.”
― Jill Soloway
“A young artist can become popular more quickly with the Internet providing instant access to one’s work.”
― Jillian Mayer
“’Deadwood’ was a magical experience. It was an absolute culmination of everything I’ve ever wanted to do as an actor as an artist, and I was enormously proud to have been involved with it.”
― Jim Beaver
“A make-up artist I know polished her Oscar and it lost its lustre. But if you don’t polish it, it doesn’t tarnish.”
― Jim Broadbent
“Western art is built on the biographical passion of one artist for another.”
― Jim Dine
“I always feel like it is a privilege to be able to be an artist and to be able to exhibit my work all over the world.”
― Jim Drain
“I became aesthetically obsessed with language. And ‘literary artist’ – poet and novelist – is a calling. You are called to it the way preachers are called to preaching the gospel.”
― Jim Harrison
“One of the most difficult things for any artist to do is create a world that looks both completely alien yet real and possible.”
― Jim Lee
“Gene Colan was like no other artist of his generation. His ability to create dramatic, multi-valued tonal illustrations using straight India ink and board was unparalleled.”
― Jim Lee
“From an artist’s point of view, I always want to work with the writers I admire.”
― Jim Lee
“More often than not, the fans really gravitate towards who’s on the cover as opposed to how it’s drawn or how it’s composed, and so, a lot of the time, what an artist likes will be very different from what a fan likes.”
― Jim Lee
“There is the intent of the writer and the interpretation by the artist. What the writer intended and what the artist interprets is not a 1-to-1 translation. It’s a crossing of ideas that generates the stories that you see in print.”
― Jim Lee
“In December 1989, my mother died very suddenly, and that sparked a re-evaluation of what I was doing, and I realized I was mediocre at everything. I was a mediocre IBM employee, I was a mediocre entrepreneur, I was a mediocre artist. I decided that, although my mom wouldn’t be around to see it, I wanted to be great at something.”
― Jim McKelvey
“I found that the artist market was expanding in comics. Marvel was going from something like eight books a month to somewhere in the 20s. As a result of this expansion, Marvel, in particular, was hiring anyone who could hold a pencil. That’s how I got my first job there.”
― Jim Starlin
“Being an artist, you soak up imagery, and you put it back out in whatever form you do your own imagery.”
― Jim Starlin
“I don’t want to become a laid-back artist by any stretch of the imagination.”
― Jimmy Barnes
“I have not become the artist I believe I am. I want to become a stadium act. I’m not done at all.”
― Jimmy Cliff
“There are goals that I had set out for myself as an artist. I have accomplished some of them – becoming accepted all over the world – however, other parts of my goals have not been completed.”
― Jimmy Cliff
“Every artist and every song has an idea, and the producer’s job is to capture it.”
― Jimmy Iovine
“I always try to go where the excitement is, where the best music is. I don’t care what kind of music it is. I go with the best artist we can find.”
― Jimmy Iovine
“If you’re an artist, and you put out a record – most artists only have one or two hit records – that has 100 million streams, on certain services you only get paid on 75% of those streams. How’s an artist going to live like that?”
― Jimmy Iovine
“I prefer to hear an artist’s work and what they can do, so as far as I’m concerned, I’d get a lot more out of a collection of songs to be able to understand what the musician is doing.”
― Jimmy Page
“When you have celebrity, it’s a whole different thing than being an artist.”
― Jimmy Smits
“I’m an artist that’s attracted to a specific way of seeing and a way of being.”
― Jock Sturges
“Any artist that’s involved in their work is inevitably going to have a focus in what they do.”
― Jock Sturges
“Being a niche kind of artist, you’re not going to make a lot of friends in the traditional music biz.”
― Joe Bonamassa
“I’ve never been known as a riff kind of artist.”
― Joe Bonamassa
“I could never deny myself bein’ an artist.”
― Joe Cocker
“Chris Brown is a fantastic artist and songwriter and to be able to work with him was kind of unbelievable.”
― Joe Jonas
“I commissioned this artist to make these silver tomahawks by hand. Larry Sellers, who plays Cloud Dancing on the show, blessed and cleansed them and all.”
― Joe Lando
“On the first season of our show, I commissioned a Native American artist to make up, ’cause I’m known for the tomahawk, besides the hair and the leather outfit and the whole thing.”
― Joe Lando
“I like coming up with new characters. Whether it’s revamping an old character no one likes or just coming up with brand-new stuff, that’s kind of what excited me as an artist.”
― Joe Madureira
“Sometimes as an artist you get wrapped up in what you are doing and you can’t be objective.”
― Joe Nichols
“If one artist sells five million albums, the tendency is for other artists to say, ‘Maybe I should do a little of that, too.’ That can be tough to resist.”
― Joe Nichols
“I’m more compelled as an artist to see diversification than I am to keep watching an Anglo point of view in storytelling.”
― Joe Russo
“An artist needs to live to create, and to live means to suffer.”
― Joe Wright
“I loved ‘The Artist.’ I thought it was fantastic.”
― Joel Kinnaman
“I’ve always been a fine artist.”
― Joey Skaggs
“I began my career as a recording artist, and eventually I started directing my own music videos.”
― Johan Renck
“I started out as musician and recording artist but quite soon started to do my own videos. One thing led to another, and soon I was making videos for a living.”
― Johan Renck
“To be honest, I don’t particularly see myself as an Icelandic artist. I’m a European artist.”
― Johann Johannsson
“The artist alone sees spirits. But after he has told of their appearing to him, everybody sees them.”
― Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
“As a storyboard artist, you have to be able to draw anything.”
― John Allison
“Lissa Treiman is an artist who submitted a guest strip to me back in 2008 and whose work I’ve followed since. She works in animation. When I first mentioned on Twitter that I was interested in writing a series but not drawing it, she got in touch.”
― John Allison
“I read Nietzsche when I was a teenager and then I went back to reading him when I was in my thirties, and his voice spoke directly to me. Nietzsche is such a superb literary artist.”
― John Banville
“For the artist, drawing is discovery. And that is not just a slick phrase; it is quite literally true.”
― John Berger
“A drawing is essentially a private work, related only to the artist’s own needs; a ‘finished’ statue or canvas is essentially a public, presented work – related far more directly to the demands of communication.”
― John Berger
“The artist is extremely lucky who is presented with the worst possible ordeal which will not actually kill him. At that point, he’s in business.”
― John Berryman
“I essentially started out with a Western series for WildStorm/DC but didn’t want to be perceived as a ‘Western artist.’ I did a couple of super-hero things at Marvel but didn’t want to be one of those guys, either. I loved all these genres and wanted to play in a very big toy box. Enter ‘Planetary.’”
― John Cassaday
“As an artist, I feel that we must try many things – but above all we must dare to fail.”
― John Cassavetes
“What was exciting to me in talking to Kogonada was I was just very convinced that he was a very real and pure artist. He was so uninterested in the commercial game.”
― John Cho
“I can only control what I can, which is what I’m able to do as an artist.”
― John David Washington
“The lifestyle that an artist can have, the freedom to wander in the landscape with no real pressure or deadlines, was a very attractive one.”
― John Dyer
“Yeah, I really like being alive. But I definitely don’t have any intentions as an artist.”
― John Frusciante
“But I’m not an artist. Maybe an artist with a small a.”
― John Galliano
“An artist can go paint, and a writer can go write, but an actor needs to get hired, needs somebody to say, ‘Here, come and do this,’ That’s the hard part.”
― John Glover
“I want to keep – this seems so corny – I want to keep growing as an artist.”
― John Glover
“To be an artist that is fully original, it doesn’t exist.”
― John Gourley
“I have wanted to be a fine artist painter, and I reached the point in art schools were I’d like to understand more about images and how images communicate information to people. And I was not getting very far in that from my professors.”
― John Hench
“Any tool can be used for good or bad. It’s really the ethics of the artist using it.”
― John Knoll
“As both a fine artist and a graphic designer, I specialize in the visual presentation of words.”
― John Langdon
“Computers don’t create computer animation any more than a pencil creates pencil animation. What creates computer animation is the artist.”
― John Lasseter
“Now that I’m coming out with my own record people can see I’m a solo artist.”
― John Legend
“Marvin Gaye was one of the coolest. I look to him as a style icon and as an artist.”
― John Legend
“I remember when I first came out as an artist, back in 2004 or 2005, the record label used to take me to all the radio stations and just have me sit in, like, their lunchroom or their conference room, and play for the whole staff. Just to introduce them to me so they would play my records.”
― John Legend
“I see the new Latin artist as a pioneer, opening up doors for others to follow. And when they don’t open, we crowbar our way in.”
― John Leguizamo
“I’m a con artist in that I’m an actor. I make people believe something is real when they know perfectly well it isn’t.”
― John Lithgow
“An artist is always thinking of something else. My father was like that. He had this feeling of abstraction, and I do, too.”
― John Lithgow
“I went to Princeton High School when I was very serious about being an artist.”
― John Lithgow
“Something in me was instinctively drawn to the life of a misunderstood, brilliant and wilful artist. I wanted to become one.”
― John Lloyd Young
“But I really want to be an artist, so therefore I have to live a little bit like a monk.”
― John Lone
“The artist needs to understand the truth that lies at the bottom of an enigma.”
― John Maeda
“I’m an indie artist with major distribution, so one foot in the extreme major music business and one foot in the abyss of indie artists.”
― John Oates
“An artist is his own fault.”
― John O’Hara
“I think it’s fair to say that the Nobel Prize is the highest honor any scientist or artist can achieve.”
― John O’Keefe
“I do think Australians as a rule have a very good sensibility to them, and I think most people, if they were given the option, wouldn’t choose to rip off a filmmaker or an artist – I don’t think its part of the Australian psyche.”
― John Polson
“I became a recording artist before I knew it. And I just – when I would listen to my old records, I’d just hear this young, extremely nervous fella that that made me want to run out of the room, you know, rather than listen to what he had to say.”
― John Prine
“My first Grammy nomination? I was 24 – I was nominated for best new artist of the year.”
― John Prine
“He is the greatest artist who has embodied, in the sum of his works, the greatest number of the greatest ideas.”
― John Ruskin
“The Architect is just one of a series of works which examine the confrontation of innocence and experience, illustrating the complex ethics of power that exist between reader and writer, critic and artist, the human and the divine.”
― John Scott
“I’m basically a starving artist.”
― John Trudell
“There’s almost nothing worse to live with than a struggling artist.”
― John Updike
“We don’t really want to think that the artist is only very skilled, that he has merely devoted his life to perfecting a certain set of intelligible skills.”
― John Updike
“Thinking it over, I can’t locate another artist in the Updike family.”
― John Updike
“I see no intrinsic reason why a doubly talented artist might not arise and create a comic-strip novel masterpiece.”
― John Updike
“Because I went to Chouinard, which then became CalArts, I became a multi-discipline artist – it wasn’t just about painting, it was about media and performance.”
― John Van Hamersveld
“I am not a Christian artist, I am an artist who is a Christian.”
― Johnny Cash
“One of the things about dealing with an artist is that their art is essentially – if they’re successful, it’s kind of lightning in a bottle. There is no formula for it.”
― Johnny Colt
“My brother is an artist, and he draws all my tattoos.”
― Johnny Messner
“I definitely feel like I’m more of an artist than an athlete. But I’m good at both.”
― Johnny Weir
“Derek Trucks is a real good new artist. He’s a young guy.”
― Johnny Winter
“There are a lot of producers who basically have their sound, and if the artist works with them, you almost know what the record’s going to sound like before it comes out.”
― Jon Brion
“I am an athlete in every sense of the word. Athlete, martial artist.”
― Jon Jones
“Part of me believes that the completed record is the final measure of a pop musician’s accomplishment, just as the completed film is the final measure of a film artist’s accomplishments.”
― Jon Landau
“I had to see if I’m a real filmmaker. I mean, I have proven myself in movies and franchises, but am I an artist? Can I contribute something to a medium that I love so much?”
― Jon M. Chu
“My intention when I came into this industry was to be a musician, not necessarily a recording artist, just a musician in general. And that’s the reason I went to college and got my degree, which has been great for me. It’s helped me a lot with my career.”
― Jon Secada
“I’m not an abstract artist; I leave that to others. To me, abstract art ended with Kazimir Malevich’s ‘Black Square.’ To continue it is senseless.”
― Jonas Mekas
“I love being a struggling artist; it makes me feel very alive.”
― Jonathan Evison
“I always thought I was going to be an artist. All I ever did was draw. I only ever turned to writing because I couldn’t find somebody to write the kind of stuff I wanted to do. That just spiraled out of control.”
― Jonathan Hickman
“I grew up with an artist father, and my parents’ friends were also mainly artists or writers, so he connects what I do with his example.”
― Jonathan Lethem
“When I left school, I wanted to be an artist, specifically a painter.”
― Jonathan Pryce
“I started out as an artist, and what I do is verbal paintings. I paint a picture. Hopefully, you’ll see the characters and what they’re doing and what they’re saying.”
― Jonathan Winters
“I certainly don’t want to be an angry old artist.”
― Joni Mitchell
“I’m an artist through and through.”
― Jordan Fisher
“Being an artist means ceasing to take seriously that very serious person we are when we are not an artist.”
― Jose Ortega y Gasset
“The painter paints, the musician makes music, the novelist writes novels. But I believe that we all have some influence, not because of the fact that one is an artist, but because we are citizens.”
― Jose Saramago
“In Italy the artist is a god. Now if the artist is a god, the scientist is likewise a god.”
― Josef Albers
“Every man is an artist.”
― Joseph Beuys
“Nothing convinces an artist more of the arbitrariness of the means to which he resorts to attain a goal – however permanent it may be – than the creative process itself, the process of composition.”
― Joseph Brodsky
“One of the worst things that can happen to an artist is to perceive himself as the owner of his art, and art as his tool. A product of the marketplace sensibility, this attitude barely differs on a psychological plane from the patron’s view of the artist as a paid employee.”
― Joseph Brodsky
“I’ve been doing this for seven and a half years. I’ve been just bustin’ it, trying to break in as an artist in this business. For me, it’s still just about the work. I get the scripts and I’m all about that. I don’t really even have an idea what that’s going to be like.”
― Josh Holloway
“When you’re an actor or any kind of artist, you use your life as something to draw from in every experience.”
― Josh Peck
“In this day and age, people have come to expect that artists are going to give everybody information on Twitter about what they’re doing, but not every artist is like that. I’m not really like that.”
― Josh Trank
“I’ve had so much success. I had something to say, I got to say it, people heard it, and they agreed. That’s every artist’s dream. That’s the brass ring.”
― Joss Whedon
“The artist knows how to sing, not how to count.”
― Juan Gabriel
“I think I am an artist. I think I am Juan Gabriel, who has given so much with my songs.”
― Juan Gabriel
“A contemporary artist can use the findings of all epochs and all styles, from the most primitive literary expressions up to the most refined products of the baroque.”
― Juan Goytisolo
“I am the greatest marital artist in the world.”
― Judah Friedlander
“Singing background has always been such a precious thing. I’m always going to be excited to sing behind an artist and learn from them.”
― Judith Hill
“I set my sights upon becoming the kind of artist who would make a contribution to art history.”
― Judy Chicago
“It is hard to separate the art from the artist.”
― Juice Wrld
“I really wasn’t planning on being a solo artist.”
― Juicy J
“It took a bit of talking through administrative people, but only once did an attorney try and get in the way of the process and say their artist couldn’t do it.”
― Jules Shear
“It took me some years to clear my head of what Paris wanted me to admire about it, and to notice what I preferred instead. Not power-ridden monuments, but individual buildings which tell a quieter story: the artist’s studio, or the Belle Epoque house built by a forgotten financier for a just-remembered courtesan.”
― Julian Barnes
“I get a little sick of myself as a solo artist. I get a little bit bored.”
― Juliana Hatfield
“My growth as an artist and a person has been so slow and gradual, it’s hard to make a story out of it.”
― Juliana Hatfield
“I’m definitely a cult artist.”
― Juliana Hatfield
“I’m not so sure I ‘like’ to watch myself on film, but I do find it necessary in order to continually be a better artist.”
― Julie Ann Emery
“I always wanted to be an artist, but I didn’t really know how someone could make a life out it.”
― Julie Mehretu
“The man of science, the artist, the philosopher are attached to their nations as much as the day-laborer and the merchant.”
― Julien Benda
“If I could have any artist’s work on my sitting room wall it would probably be by Van Gogh or Picasso.”
― Juliet Stevenson
“Being beautiful can be a curse, especially if you want to be an artist and create.”
― Juliette Lewis
“I am not an artist which is ‘in.’”
― Julio Iglesias
“I’m the Latin artist who has been the most successful in history at representing the Latin culture.”
― Julio Iglesias
“I discovered early that as an artist there was absolutely nothing wrong with being surrounded by people who were not dedicated to your field.”
― Junot Diaz
“I mean, I’m an artist by nature; no one considers what I do and no one knows who the heck I am, but that anybody does – it is astonishing.”
― Junot Diaz
“I can’t imagine anybody who ends up being an artist who didn’t pass through a time of geekiness.”
― Junot Diaz
“In minority communities there’s a sensitivity, often a knee-jerk reaction, to critical representations. There’s a misunderstanding of what an artist does.”
― Junot Diaz
“As an artist, you want to do roles that challenge you and say something.”
― Jussie Smollett
“I think that any actor – any artist, period – would love to work with an artist like Lee Daniels.”
― Jussie Smollett
“As I get into it more, I want to grow as an artist, as an entertainer, and basically perfect my craft.”
― Justin Bieber
“I think that it’s the job of the artist to be in transition and constantly learn more.”
― Justin Townes Earle
“When I’m in a session with an artist, my job is to help execute their vision – so it’s whatever story they’re telling, and the news doesn’t specifically affect that.”
― Justin Tranter
“I’ve experienced some really very obvious, direct homophobia – when I was still trying to be an artist, behind the scenes, being told to be less gay, be less feminine.”
― Justin Tranter
“My artist career failed pretty miserably multiple times.”
― Justin Tranter
“Jeremih is a dope artist.”
― Justine Skye
“It’s kinda hard to date as an artist because you’re all over the place, and your significant other may seem jealous, depending on what they’re doing.”
― Justine Skye
“As an independent artist, you control the means of production, which is the ultimate form of empowerment.”
― K. Flay
“I think the key for any kind of artist – and this transcends music – is a certain degree of authenticity and sincerity.”
― K. Flay
“When I started out, I wanted to be the kind of artist who could play the CMA Music Festival and then turn around and play Bonnaroo, and I’ve managed to do both.”
― Kacey Musgraves
“I am not a great artist like Maradona was with regards to on-the-field matters.”
― Kaka
“You’re taught that it’s not very likely for you to become successful… that odds are you’re going to be a struggling artist for the rest of your life.”
― Kali Uchis
“It’s difficult as an artist sometimes. There’s a lot of pressure when it’s your first album. You want to make something that’s meaningful and timeless, not something that’s trendy.”
― Kali Uchis
“When I was 18 or 19, I realized that everything I was doing was connected to music – writing, doing videos, making my clothes. It all centered around being an artist. So I released a mixtape that I made in my bedroom, and it ended up getting a lot more attention than I expected.”
― Kali Uchis
“I am very much an artist. I like painting and collaging.”
― Kali Uchis
“I am Warhol. I am the No. 1 most impactful artist of our generation. I am Shakespeare in the flesh.”
― Kanye West
“If I was just a fan of music, I would think that I was the number one artist in the world.”
― Kanye West
“Good new songs are the backbone of the music industry. There isn’t an artist out there who could survive without hit songs.”
― Kara DioGuardi
“To be a truly conscientious artist, you have to look at what’s not working and challenge it. You riff on things.”
― Kara Walker
“I knew I wanted to be an artist, but I didn’t really know what it was I wanted to say.”
― Kara Walker
“I was making big paintings with mythological themes. When I started painting black figures, the white professors were relieved, and the black students were like, ‘She’s on our side.’ These are the kinds of issues that a white male artist just doesn’t have to deal with.”
― Kara Walker
“I am performing this role of the artist and this role of the ‘negress’ coming into a white-box institution. It’s kind of a self-appointed role: the self-designated negress.”
― Kara Walker
“Write a story a great writer would write. Because part of becoming an artist is pushing through all the disbelief of those around you, deciding that you are a writer when you have no idea what a plot is or whether what you’ve written is any good, or anything.”
― Karen Bender
“A great artist is never poor.”
― Karen Blixen
“I feel every artist has a certain amount of fan following.”
― Karishma Tanna
“I wanted to become a cartoon artist, a portrait artist, and an illustrator. This was my first idea.”
― Karl Lagerfeld
“Art and works of art do not make an artist; sense and enthusiasm and instinct do.”
― Karl Wilhelm Friedrich Schlegel
“An artist is he for whom the goal and center of life is to form his mind.”
― Karl Wilhelm Friedrich Schlegel
“That’s the most important thing for me is just figuring out how and if I’m growing as an artist.”
― Karyn Kusama
“One thing I don’t do anymore as I’ve gotten older is that I don’t make big blanket statements about whether or not an artist is good or bad.”
― Karyn Kusama
“I’m more of an artist and a songwriter than I am a DJ. That word seems a little bit – well, it doesn’t really describe what I do.”
― Kaskade
“Mix CDs are interesting. I’m known more for my artist albums and less for my mix CDs.”
― Kaskade
“I just wanna be a good artist.”
― Kat Graham
“I could find faults with all my albums because that’s just a part of being an artist – it’s hard being a human being, isn’t it?”
― Kate Bush
“To be an artist includes much; one must possess many gifts – absolute gifts – which have not been acquired by one’s own effort. And, moreover, to succeed, the artist much possess the courageous soul.”
― Kate Chopin
“My mother is an escaped farm girl from North Dakota and a self-taught artist and painter.”
― Katherine Dunn
“I felt it was really, really important, not just in the vein of feminist erasure or whatever but also just as an artist that I honored my work.”
― Kathleen Hanna
“I don’t understand business minds. I consider myself an artist, and they just really don’t mix.”
― Kathleen Rose Perkins
“I admire writers who succeed at what I consider the first demand of art: that the artist vivisect himself without pity, without hesitation, determined to reveal whatever he might find.”
― Kathryn Harrison
“I’m not an artist. I tell inappropriate stories and jokes and I try to make people laugh.”
― Kathy Griffin
“You have to write badly to write at all. If it’s crappy, I will rewrite it later. But it will be mine. You can hear the resonance of an artist who goes into herself.”
― Kathy Mattea
“I’ve always wanted to produce a whole album for an artist.”
― Kaytranada
“I never got to see the circus… I was always in love with being a trapeze artist, though.”
― Keala Settle
“I think the pairing of your material practice with your subject is something that is the constant concern of every artist for time immemorial.”
― Kehinde Wiley
“At the core, every artist, no matter what his subject matter happens to be, has to be someone doing the looking. I began to really interrogate the act of looking.”
― Kehinde Wiley
“As a working artist, I became increasingly aware of the patterns we see in the street and in America, becoming globalized in terms of pop culture and global and social outlook.”
― Kehinde Wiley
“Questlove is an artist who I respect because he constantly shifts within the idiom, challenging perceptions of hip-hop and black American culture.”
― Kehinde Wiley
“When you know who you are as an artist and you have your own identity and got it figured out it helps you know what to write about.”
― Keifer Thompson
“I think it is your job as an artist to be able to hear a song.”
― Keifer Thompson
“The public needs art – and it is the responsibility of a ‘self-proclaimed artist’ to realize that the public needs art, and not to make bourgeois art for a few and ignore the masses.”
― Keith Haring
“People were more interested in the phenomena than the art itself. This, combined with the growing interest in collecting art as an investment and the resultant boom in the art market, made it a difficult time for a young artist to remain sincere without becoming cynical.”
― Keith Haring
“No one really had to encourage me to become an artist; it was just something I knew I had to do. I was drawn to things that seemed impossible.”
― Keiynan Lonsdale
“When I called ‘Cut 4 Me’ a mixtape, I was thinking about a few elements: One is used instrumentals. The project is more centered around introducing you to an artist; it’s not meant to be seminal. It’s ‘Hi,’ ‘Hello,’ a thing that you first hear.”
― Kelela
“I’m a multi-platinum recording artist; my passion is food.”
― Kelis
“Every animated film that I’ve worked on – whether it was as a story artist or as Head of Story or even as director – where we originally started out with our story and where we eventually ended up were often very different places.”
― Kelly Asbury
“When I’m picking songs for an album I always want a song that I can relate to and that I have experienced. There’s nothing worse than watching an artist try and sell a song that isn’t believable coming from them.”
― Kelly Clarkson
“I need someone who understands an artist’s mentality. I couldn’t be with someone who wouldn’t let me have my freedom.”
― Kelly Reilly
“I started crying, because there’s nothing like hearing that the artist who originally did the song likes your version.”
― Kelly Rowland
“I need to go where I’m not comfortable. I think that’s the artist’s job.”
― Kelly Sue DeConnick
“Willem de Kooning as an artist is insane, Sonia Rykiel is amazing for her colour sensibility, and Ettore Sottsass was an architect and product designer who sometimes created clothes to go with his other designs.”
― Kelly Wearstler
“I want to be a good person first and a good artist second.”
― Kelsea Ballerini
“Being a songwriter is really the base of being an artist, for me.”
― Kelsea Ballerini
“I was raised on a farm in East Tennessee, and my first concert was Britney Spears. It’s my job as a country music artist to be honest about that.”
― Kelsea Ballerini
“I wouldn’t be an artist if I didn’t have Shania Twain, Faith Hill, Taylor Swift to look up to.”
― Kelsea Ballerini
“I think that every time a country artist steps outside of the country boundary, it just brings more ears to us.”
― Kelsea Ballerini
“I’ve studied live shows and artists for so long. I got the tour documentaries and all that and watched them. I love a show. I love an artist that can do all of it.”
― Kelsea Ballerini
“I love when an artist can stand by themselves and play their guitar and hold a crowd, but I also love bells and whistles.”
― Kelsea Ballerini
“People send me songs all the time that are literally no-brainer hits… but for me, I’m an artist because I’m a writer.”
― Kelsea Ballerini
“I want to stay where I am. I’m stoked to be a country artist.”
― Kelsea Ballerini
“Honestly, I was a fan before I got the opportunity to be an artist. I was the kind of fan who would stand in line or post a cover video.”
― Kelsea Ballerini
“It wasn’t supposed to work – being a new artist, a female artist, an artist on an independent. That’s what made it so much sweeter when we hit No. 1.”
― Kelsea Ballerini
“My first artist bus was Jason Aldean’s old bus, with deer antlers over the lights and cowhide on the back of the couches. It was such an absolute dude bus.”
― Kelsea Ballerini
“To say that an artist sells out means that an artist is making a conscious choice to compromise his music, to to weaken his music for the sake of commercial gain.”
― Ken Burns
“I’ve also been willing to share any help that I could give to any other artist.”
― Kenneth Noland
“Pollock was well known, certainly, but for all the wrong reasons. He was known as much for being wild and unconventional in his working methods as for being a great artist.”
― Kenneth Noland
“I’ve always been a cabaret-vaudeville artist – an hourlong cabaret and a floor show in a hotel – somebody like that. That’s my main forte.”
― Kenny Baker
“I needed to be pushed as an artist and as a person.”
― Kenny Chesney
“I tried to stay off the stage, but you know, I’m an actor; I’m an artist.”
― Kenny Leon
“As an artist, I really feel I need an outlet to exhibit all of my skills.”
― Kenny Omega
“I know as a consumer I want a story. I want a defining – I don’t want just an album full of singles. I want to get to know the artist beyond what everyone else can hear on the radio.”
― Keri Hilson
“Even at my biggest, I want to be writing for other artists. Even at my peak – the highest I can be as an artist – I always want to be keeping my creative juices flowing, keeping money in the bank, putting my intellectual property out there.”
― Keri Hilson
“I don’t have a beef with any female artist.”
― Keri Hilson
“When I’m writing a song for another artist, I purposefully make it not for me; otherwise, I get too attached.”
― Keri Hilson
“There is no other artist who I admire and love as much as I love Bjork.”
― Kerli
“One of the ways that I think about my being an artist and an actor is… it’s an experiment.”
― Kerry Bishe
“My first black-on-black picture was ‘The Portrait of an Artist as a Shadow of His Former Self.’ I started using it as an emblem of this undercurrent of wickedness, malevolence, and irony – all of that.”
― Kerry James Marshall
“You never know what an artist is going to create next.”
― Kesha
“If you want to be a legitimate artist, it’s more important what you say no to.”
― Kesha
“I don’t want to be that artist who’s doing the teenage angst thing and draw it out my whole career.”
― Kevin Abstract
“It’s a curse. I ask God to take this away from me all the time. I do not like being an artist.”
― Kevin Gates
“You can go to places in Africa and Asia and find Marley graffiti. In the slums of Nairobi, you see his lyrics painted on walls, and you realise he has this almost religious significance to the underclass of the world. He’s a guy born in a hut with no bed, and now he’s probably the most listened-to artist in the world. It’s fascinating.”
― Kevin Macdonald
“I grew up in the grunge era. I’ve always resisted the idea of being part of a machine, wanting just to be an artist in my own right. But at some point, I just realized shutting things out took more energy than just letting it in.”
― Kevin Parker
“When you’re an artist, all you’re trying to do is self-express.”
― Kevin Smith
“My peers inspire me, especially being a newer artist.”
― Khalid
“I’m really excited about what the future holds and to grow as an individual and as an artist.”
― Khalid
“Activism and art do go hand in hand, but I am an artist and an ‘artivist’ within that.”
― Kiersey Clemons
“I didn’t want to be that artist that is successful as a result of someone else. Not that that’s wrong, but I felt like I had what it took. I really believed I could do it on my own, so I wanted to try, at least.”
― Kiesza
“It wasn’t until I wrote ‘Hideaway’ that I found the song I related to as an artist.”
― Kiesza
“I didn’t start to be an artist myself until I was 24.”
― Kiki Smith
“I’m not going to restrict myself as an artist.”
― Killer Mike
“As an artist you have to have a certain amount of arrogance.”
― Kim Weston
“I was always confident in my art and in myself as an artist.”
― Kim Weston
“I want to be the kind of artist who keeps pushing on every album. I don’t want to settle on a sound.”
― Kimbra
“A producer should only be there to enable an artist to be himself.”
― Kip Winger
“I’ve slowly become more comfortable as an artist and as a person.”
― Kirstin Maldonado
“The first artist that did it for me with just production was James Blake… I was just blown away… I feel like James Blake kind of was the one that introduced me into that world.”
― Kirstin Maldonado
“My question about my art and my music has always been, ‘Am I good, or am I good because?’ I’m not the artist who wants to have the ‘because’ attached.”
― K’naan
“I’m comfortable in general – not just comfortable as an artist, but in my skin.”
― Kodie Shane
“I actually started off – believe it or not – doing drag. I travelled the world because I was a completely off-the-wall drag artist.”
― Kristian Nairn
“Ksenia Sobchak as president is like Sergei Shnurov as an artist. It’s satire. It’s a very high-level art project.”
― Ksenia Sobchak
“My mother encouraged me to be artistic. It was written in a contract at an early age that I would be an artist.”
― Kurt Cobain
“I really enjoy doing remixes, but I don’t want to be known as just a ‘remix artist’ for the rest of my career.”
― Kygo
“I’m definitely a West Coast artist, so much so that I’m gonna get ‘Thug Life’ tatted on my stomach one day.”
― Kyle
“I try to make things as versatile as possible. Usually, you have to listen to one artist for a certain vibe and another artist to catch the next vibe. I want to make an album that has all of that in there.”
― Kyle
“I just want to be an artist that makes exactly what he feels.”
― Kyle
“I think of myself as a producer who tries to bring the best out of everyone, whether that be an artist, songwriter or a publicist.”
― L.A. Reid
“I’m not a good Samaritan, I’m a businessman… The goal is to read and react. If we sign an artist that has potential for a shelf life way out in the distance, then we’ll stay. But if not, then we won’t.”
― L.A. Reid
“I think, as an artist, I wear a lot of different hats, and people have to join all of the dots.”
― Labrinth
“I definitely didn’t wanna be a one-dimensional artist that you can just put into one box. Because, to me, we’re all masters of certain energies, and we all create different colours.”
― Labrinth
“I think producing a record for other artists is almost like giving them advice, and I would say that it is easier to produce another artist than it is to produce yourself.”
― Labrinth
“The first tour an artist does is a strange one… because you can never tell how the audience is going to react.”
― Labrinth
“You can make what you want. People care about what the artist has to say, what the sound is, and how it affects them.”
― Labrinth
“Dancers have always been a kind of background image, we’ve always danced behind an artist or we’ve danced in a movie behind the actors. We’ve always been very secondary.”
― Lacey Schwimmer
“A record deal doesn’t make you an artist; you make yourself an artist.”
― Lady Gaga
“Well, in order for me to be successful… In order to be a great artist – musician, actor, painter, whatever – you must be able to be private in public at all times.”
― Lady Gaga
“My work as an artist is completely separate from my work as a philanthropist.”
― Lady Gaga
“In order for me to be successful… In order to be a great artist – musician, actor, painter, whatever – you must be able to be private in public at all times. That is what we do.”
― Lady Gaga
“I just genuinely feel that that’s what you do when you’re an artist: You stick up for the people around you.”
― Lady Gaga
“If you are born an artist, you have no choice but to fight to stay an artist.”
― Lana Del Rey
“I’m an artist at heart.”
― Lance Reddick
“Perhaps the mission of an artist is to interpret beauty to people – the beauty within themselves.”
― Langston Hughes
“An artist must be free to choose what he does, certainly, but he must also never be afraid to do what he might choose.”
― Langston Hughes
“The kind of artist I would like to be is definitely versatile. I don’t like being boxed in or put into a genre, so to speak.”
― La’Porsha Renae
“I guess I’ve always liked the idea of being an artist.”
― Larry Rivers
“Hubris itself will not let you be an artist.”
― Larry Wall
“You’re an artist when you’re writing, a businessperson the rest of the time.”
― Laura Anne Gilman
“What do you say when someone has truly inspired you? How do you express to an artist how deeply their work has affected you?”
― Laura Dern
“It’s important for any artist – particularly female artists – to feel completely comfortable and to know what they’re trying to do.”
― Laura Mvula
“I don’t think you should categorize yourself as an artist.”
― Laura Nyro
“We all have our things that we go through, and I wanted to be an artist that people could listen to and feel like they’re not alone. I want to be empowering.”
― Lauren Alaina
“I think that people have a very strict perception of what a pop artist is.”
― Lauren Jauregui
“Austin is a big music town, so growing up, I had a lot of local heroes. Toni Price I was very, very into; she was one of the first people I tried to emulate. She’s a local Austin blues artist. Marsha Paul I was also a very big fan of.”
― Lauren Worsham
“As an artist I’d choose the thing that’s beautiful more than the one that’s true.”
― Laurie Anderson
“I so much appreciate it when anybody tries to make something and tries to be an artist – I’m happy to see the work.”
― Laurie Anderson
“I see and write things first as an artist, second as a woman, and third as a New Yorker. All three have built-in perspectives that aren’t neutral.”
― Laurie Anderson
“Who knew that being an artist was a glamour job?”
― Laurie Simmons
“I always say I’m an artist with the soul of a realtor.”
― Laurie Simmons
“What people are feeling is the similarity in what I do and how I’m capable of breaking a new artist into a competitive field. People can’t wrap their head around the fact that Gaga did not do that on her own. She didn’t. There was a Laurieann Gibson.”
― Laurieann Gibson
“Artist development is something that I’ve been passionate about from my days at Uptown and Motown Records.”
― Laurieann Gibson
“I was very disenchanted in the industry for a long time before I met GaGa. Everyone wanted a ‘Single Ladies’ for their artist, or a Puffy move.”
― Laurieann Gibson
“For me, a dancer is part of an artist’s entertainment – ‘backup dancer’ isn’t even in my vocabulary.”
― Laurieann Gibson
“The thing about Sheeran is that he is an incredibly real artist and songwriter. He is not trying to be anybody else other than himself.”
― Lauv
“Everyone loathes his own country and countrymen if he is any sort of artist.”
― Lawrence Durrell
“I want to be a genuine artist who has a say in what I do.”
― Leah LaBelle
“I think every artist reaches a place where they want to transcend genre.”
― Lecrae
“Being faith-driven, being a hip-hop artist, being artistic in an urban context – all of those things make you unique, and you put yourself on the outside of what’s considered the norm.”
― Lecrae
“I just don’t want to be the artist who’s out on the road and has no real perspective of what’s happening at home.”
― Lecrae
“I know who I am as an artist. I’ve always known who I am as an artist.”
― Lee DeWyze
“I have never been able to understand the artist whose image never changes.”
― Lee Krasner
“The procedure was that an artist got a mural and then he would have anywhere from two to ten assistants depending on the size of the mural and how many assistants he needed, or she needed.”
― Lee Krasner
“As I say, I as an abstract artist was active politically.”
― Lee Krasner
“The story that I wanna tell is pretty much about the way I grew up. Being bi-racial, growing up in a big city and being an artist.”
― Lenny Kravitz
“I’m not an artist or a collector. I’m a skateboard kid with no one to tell me if I’m not doing things the right way.”
― Leo Fitzpatrick
“Bruce Lee only played himself. Chuck Norris is a martial artist that does acting. I want to be an actor that does martial arts.”
― Leo Howard
“Art is not a handicraft, it is the transmission of feeling the artist has experienced.”
― Leo Tolstoy
“Works of art produced in the contemporary world are a further expression of that. But I don’t think there is an active, ongoing nihilist self-consciousness in the artist.”
― Leonard Baskin
“On the corner of 57th and 7th Avenue sits the most famous concert hall in the world. No less a figure than when Tchaikovsky led the first performances in 1891. Virtually every major artist has performed there. There is simply no place like it. The first time I stepped foot in Carnegie Hall was in 1964.”
― Leonard Slatkin
“I have always said to young artists that scholastic training and the studying of art history are crucial to fully developing as an artist.”
― LeRoy Neiman
“The businessman says ‘If I don’t do it first, somebody else will.’ The artist says ‘If I don’t do it first, nobody else will.’”
― LeRoy Neiman
“I played an artist in a comedy called ‘Rooster.’ It was a zany film by Glen Larson, a friend who produced several successful television series including ‘Magnum PI.’”
― LeRoy Neiman
“The more life you have, the more it’s in your pores, the more able you are to be creative as an artist.”
― Lesley Manville
“My husband is a martial artist, and he thinks it’s hilarious that I have a stage-fighting-proficiency certificate. He thinks that’s ridiculous. Can’t say I’ve used it much.”
― Lesley Nicol
“As an artist, I’m very used to waking up and sort of not knowing what my day’s going to be and not knowing where my next paycheck is going to come from.”
― Leslie Odom, Jr.
“Especially for my first album, I struggled with even the thought of being a solo artist.”
― LeToya Luckett
“The first artist whose music I really got into was Paolo Nutini. When his album ‘Sunny Side Up’ came out, I think I listened to it on repeat for, like, six months.”
― Lewis Capaldi
“Tupac is my favorite artist, and he had mad style.”
― Lewis Hamilton
“The artist does not illustrate science (but) he frequently responds to the same interests that a scientist does.”
― Lewis Mumford
“People sometimes ask if I want to be a solo artist, but it just wouldn’t be any fun being on your own.”
― Liam Payne
“I suppose I see myself as a modern soul artist.”
― Lianne La Havas
“An artist should appreciate anybody that appreciates their art because really bro, without people I can’t do anything.”
― Lil B
“I don’t think any artist has really relied on music videos the way I do. It’s almost like my radio.”
― Lil Dicky
“The artist I wanna be like is Michael Jackson. I’ll get the house with the roller coaster and the rides and a disco, and I’ll invite all my friends and just stay at home.”
― Lil’ Kim
“I always knew I was gonna be an artist. I was very confident in that.”
― Lil Peep
“For me, if I saw my favorite artist in the store, I would probably just tell them three words and walk away.”
― Lil Peep
“I know there are people who are praying for my downfall, but they’re going to be like, ‘Wow, Xan’s actually an artist.’”
― Lil Xan
“I’m not a rapper; I’m an artist. And I’m more than an artist. I’m a brand.”
― Lil Yachty
“I don’t really have a favorite pop artist – I just listen to some pop songs here and there. Mostly, though, it’s Beyonce and show tunes.”
― Lilla Crawford
“Don’t overpluck your eyebrows. A make-up artist told me this once, and I’ve always remembered it.”
― Lily Cole
“When people ask how have I kept on top, I have to say with the help of every photographer, make-up artist and hairdresser I’ve ever worked with.”
― Linda Evangelista
“When making any record, a producer has a list of things you hope an artist brings to the studio. Songs that are strong even without the bells and whistles.”
― Linda Perry
“I’ve had many songs where I’ve gone, ‘Oh, my God, this song is going to be huge!’ but it wasn’t the right artist, or something just didn’t happen. It didn’t make the song any worse. It just didn’t line up. That does happen.”
― Linda Perry
“I’m a songwriter, an artist, and a musician. I do not have to try to be that; I just am.”
― Linda Perry
“There have been several occasions during the course of Fleetwood Mac over the years where we’ve had to undermine whatever the business axioms might be to sort of keep aspiring as an artist in the long term, and the ‘Tusk’ album was one of those times.”
― Lindsey Buckingham
“If you want to be an artist in the long run, it isn’t necessarily a good axiom to repeat formulas over and over until they’re used up.”
― Lindsey Buckingham
“As I’ve grown as an artist, I’ve gotten more and more in touch with my center, and that center is voice and guitar.”
― Lindsey Buckingham
“The immature artist imitates. Mature artists steal.”
― Lionel Trilling
“What marks the artist is his power to shape the material of pain we all have.”
― Lionel Trilling
“My mother is an artist, my father an entrepreneur.”
― Lisa Brennan-Jobs
“I’m a bad artist. I’m lazy and untalented and bad.”
― Lisa Hanawalt
“I don’t think that I’m a top 40 artist in any way. So I don’t think I’m that mainstream.”
― Lisa Marie Presley
“I’m an artist. I’m a musician. I’m not someone you can put in a box.”
― Little Simz
“So how does Liz Phair feel about Lana Del Rey? Well, as a recording artist, I’ve been hated, I’ve been ridiculed, and conversely, hailed as the second coming. All that matters in the end is that I’ve been heard.”
― Liz Phair
“You have to do what you need to do as an artist. You have to have that courage.”
― Liz Phair
“My mother was an artist and highly strung, whereas my father was much calmer.”
― Liza Minnelli
“Making a record and being a touring artist is about cooperation between spirit, craft, emotion, and focus.”
― Lizz Wright
“I was listening to Jimi Hendrix; I just admire his artistry and creativity as an artist.”
― LL Cool J
“It is frequently the tragedy of the great artist, as it is of the great scientist, that he frightens the ordinary man.”
― Loren Eiseley
“Johnny Rivers is underestimated as an artist. We had four top 10 singles.”
― Lou Adler
“I’m an artist and that means I can be as egotistical as I want to be.”
― Lou Reed
“How can anybody learn anything from an artwork when the piece of art only reflects the vanity of the artist and not reality?”
― Lou Reed
“I don’t think I’m in any position to call myself a martial artist. I’m a student of the martial arts.”
― Lou Reed
“I have to write. I have to be an artist.”
― Louise Erdrich
“Toward his critics, the artist harbors a defensive ace: knowledge that the future will erase the present.”
― Louise Gluck
“My business partner and make-up artist Kim Jacob and I have employed every member of staff, decided where every desk in the office should go, tried every product on our faces.”
― Louise Nurding
“Trying to launch a career as an artist is like trying to run through a crowd holding hands with five people. It’s so difficult.”
― LP
“I’m always working my own thing. A few times a week – I try to not go too crazy – I’m working with some other artist. But I’m constantly working my own stuff, and my own stuff seems to come in little bursts.”
― LP
“I’m a songwriter-singer. I’m very vocal oriented, of course, but songwriting – no matter whether it’s for myself or another artist – is of paramount importance to it all.”
― LP
“I feel like emotional content is the most important of any song, for any artist.”
― LP
“Every artist wants to connect with the listener.”
― LP
“When I wrote for myself before as an artist, I probably wrote about 15, 20 songs a year. I thought that was a lot. Then, when I first started writing for the people, I wrote, like, 65 songs in a year for two years in a row.”
― LP
“The character of the artist doesn’t enter into the nature of the art.”
― Lucian Freud
“I’ve been journaling longer than I’ve been a musician, longer than I’ve been an artist, longer than I’ve been a writer in general.”
― Lucy Dacus
“The true gourmet, like the true artist, is one of the unhappiest creatures existent. His trouble comes from so seldom finding what he constantly seeks: perfection.”
― Ludwig Bemelmans
“A friend of mine put me in contact with the artist Baaba Maal.”
― Ludwig Goransson
“When I’m working with an artist, my job is to make their vision come to life.”
― Ludwig Goransson
“A true artist is expected to be all that is noble-minded, and this is not altogether a mistake; on the other hand, however, in what a mean way are critics allowed to pounce upon us.”
― Ludwig van Beethoven
“Performing on Broadway is an honor and a challenge for any artist.”
― Luis Fonsi
“That is the most important thing to me, what happens behind the closed doors in the studio and makes me an artist.”
― Luis Fonsi
“As an artist, you keep learning. You draw out different parts of you.”
― Luis Fonsi
“Most people think an artist tries to be original, but originality is the last thing that develops in the artist.”
― Lukas Foss
“Why do we pigeonhole and label an artist? It is a sure way of missing the important, the contradictory, the things that make him or her unique.”
― Lukas Foss
“That is why the analogy of stealing does not work. With a thief, we want to know how much money he stole, and from whom. With the artist it is not how much he took and from whom, but what he did with it.”
― Lukas Foss
“To have your first No. 1 as an artist was everything I could have ever dreamed for. Now we’re keeping our fingers crossed, and hopefully we’ll have many more, but there’s certainly nothing like the first one.”
― Luke Bryan
“I wouldn’t necessarily say she is a country artist. I mean, obviously Taylor Swift started in country, but she morphed into somewhat of a cultural icon, so, who am I to judge what she is?”
― Luke Bryan
“Anytime you have a fellow artist say, ‘Loving the new Luke Bryan album,’ that’s awesome.”
― Luke Bryan
“I like to think of myself as a true artist.”
― Luke James
“The first album is the prelude to the full story of Luke James. It establishes me as an artist you can look forward to.”
― Luke James
“There is no line of demarcation between the amateurs and the pros; everyone is using the same tactics and playing in the same arenas. The only thing that separates them is radio, but the artist doesn’t control who goes to radio and who doesn’t.”
― Lupe Fiasco
“Part of being an artist is that you are always concerned you don’t have what it takes. It… keeps us honest.”
― Lupita Nyong’o
“I don’t call myself an artist. I act. That’s what I do.”
― Lusia Strus
“If anything, I want to be seen as a singer-songwriter rather than a pop artist.”
― Lykke Li
“I knew I wanted to be an artist, but I never took music lessons. I was just playing around in front of the mirror and being silly, then suddenly I started making songs.”
― Lykke Li
“I’m a trained martial artist. My parents were both martial artists.”
― Lynn Collins
“The act of saying what you do helps shape you as an artist.”
― Lynn Nottage
“I think of myself as a healing artist.”
― Lynn Nottage
“I always knew that I was an artist. I never expected to be able to make a living.”
― Lynn Shelton
“I don’t consider myself a musician. I’m an artist.”
― M.I.A.
“I was part of the generation that pushed the Internet. In fact, I broke as an artist in the U.S.A. because of the Internet.”
― M.I.A.
“As an artist, you want to play around with mediums and see if you can get the point across in different way.”
― M.I.A.
“I feel most akin as an artist, in my life and my career, to Agatha Christie.”
― M. Night Shyamalan
“I am very much my own person and my own artist.”
― Mabel
“I want to be an artist that grows slowly. If you appear overnight, there’s a chance that you will also just disappear overnight.”
― Mabel
“I knew so many people were coming up to me because they knew who I was, not because they were fans of my music. That bothered me because I don’t want to be a celebrity; I want to be an artist.”
― Machine Gun Kelly
“I think the artist community is very tight-knit.”
― Machine Gun Kelly
“I just want to give the people 100% of myself as an artist.”
― Macklemore
“There isn’t a single artist out there, I’m sure, who wouldn’t take the most perfect record deal. If the right record deal came along, like, the perfect deal, we’d definitely take it.”
― Madi Diaz
“Hopefully, one day I won’t have to be so caught up in all of that day-to-day, the Twitter and the Instagram. But I also would like to, at some point, turn off and take a break and also be, like, an artist.”
― Madi Diaz
“Im not big on make up. I only have a make up artist for events.”
― Madison Beer
“I would definitely say I’m predominantly a pop artist, obviously, but my music is different. It’s not just top-40-radio-type music.”
― Madison Beer
“I want to be role model for people to be like, ‘I don’t need a major label to be a successful artist and to have a successful song.’”
― Madison Beer
“A true artist is one who, even after doing a lot, he reminds himself that he hasn’t done anything.”
― Mahesh Bhatt
“It’s very hard for an artist to negotiate their fees. My job is to act; my manager’s job should be to handle the business side of it.”
― Mahira Khan
“When you’re an independent artist, you need as much play or promotion as you can get.”
― Malcolm-Jamal Warner
“They consistently hobble artists’ in the name of selling more units then are surprised when the fans don’t buy the lukewarm music this produces. So they then drop the artist.”
― Malcolm Wilson
“If you’re an artist, you’re an artist; that’s the only way I can explain it.”
― Malik Bendjelloul
“I was in Barcelona working with Shakira, and it was an amazing experience. She’s a great artist, and I learned a lot while working with her.”
― Maluma
“I always wanted to be an acclaimed artist and to be at the top of my game.”
― Manisha Koirala
“With comics, there’s no budget. There’s a budget in terms of you have to pay an artist and a colorist and all that, but you can do anything you want to do.”
― Marc Guggenheim
“All of the stuff I can’t afford to do on a TV budget, I just put into the comic book because you’re really only limited in a comic by your artist’s imagination.”
― Marc Guggenheim
“I have a lot of tattoos. My first tattoo I had when I was a teenager was just a little heart. I am very friendly with a great artist, Scott Campbell, and I started going to him to get tattoos. I’m very spontaneous about what I get.”
― Marc Jacobs
“I came to feel an artist might use anything – a dot, a line, the most conventional or unconventional symbol – t say what he wanted to say.”
― Marcel Duchamp
“Since the tubes of paint used by the artist are manufactured and ready-made products, we must conclude that all the paintings in the world are ‘ready-mades aided’ and also works of assemblage.”
― Marcel Duchamp
“In French, there is an old expression, la patte, meaning the artist’s touch, his personal style, his ‘paw’. I wanted to get away from la patte and from all that retinal painting.”
― Marcel Duchamp
“I’m nothing else but an artist, I’m sure, and delighted to be.”
― Marcel Duchamp
“Being able to make work – if it’s on your terms, and it’s a good fit with the people who are supporting it – can be a very interesting exercise. When it doesn’t work is when an artist just connects with a brand, and they try to take advantage of each other.”
― Marco Brambilla
“Just doing a project because it’s an opportunity won’t create meaning. As an artist, I need something to communicate.”
― Marco Brambilla
“Just to be nominated, and especially as a new artist and a female artist, is a feat. Winning anything is just a bonus.”
― Maren Morris
“’My Church’ – that was really the tipping point of me going from songwriter to artist.”
― Maren Morris
“Being the everyman in the writing room helps a lot: you have to be a real collaborator and selfless, and not have ego when you walk in there. That’s the antithesis of the artist mentality.”
― Maren Morris
“It’s such a changing industry, and I realize that it’s become more digital- and singles-driven, but I still love listening to a full record. It’s the artist’s story captured in 12 or 15 songs.”
― Maren Morris
“As an artist your first loyalty is to your art. Unless this is the case, you’re going to be a second-rate artist.”
― Margaret Atwood
“I’ve worked everywhere. I worked in a warehouse packing surf supplies, a restaurant washing dishes, in retail, and I was a ‘sandwich artist’ at Subway.”
― Margot Robbie
“You are born an artist or you are not. And you stay an artist, dear, even if your voice is less of a fireworks. The artist is always there.”
― Maria Callas
“An artist must create. If she doesn’t, she will become a menace to society.”
― Maria Semple
“If you’re an artist and you’re on Twitter, you are doomed to mediocrity.”
― Maria Semple
“If technique is of no interest to a writer, I doubt that the writer is an artist.”
― Marianne Moore
“Videos have to go hand in hand with your music, so that’s why, ultimately, they should be created by the artist. And if they’re not, it doesn’t really add up to me.”
― Marilyn Manson
“Ultimately, because I’m an artist, I can’t ever consider myself a nihilist, so I suppose I’m optimistic.”
― Marilyn Manson
“My entire philosophy of teaching is based on the notion that when an artist finds a certain process really effortless, that’s probably what he or she should choose to do. So often, students take the opposite tack; they have no use for the skills that come easily to them.”
― Marilyn Minter
“Any artist who sticks around in the public awareness for more than 20 years usually has something unique to say.”
― Marilyn Minter
“Only be an artist if you have no choice!”
― Marilyn Minter
“I want to be an artist, not… a celluloid aphrodisiac.”
― Marilyn Monroe
“I want to be an artist, an actress with integrity, and that includes all kinds of parts.”
― Marilyn Monroe
“Back when I was in college, people used to talk about the alienation of the artist, not ever quite fitting in any place.”
― Marilyn Nelson
“The function of the artist in a disturbed society is to give awareness of the universe, to ask the right questions, and to elevate the mind.”
― Marina Abramovic
“If you’re a baker, making bread, you’re a baker. If you make the best bread in the world, you’re not an artist, but if you bake the bread in the gallery, you’re an artist. So the context makes the difference.”
― Marina Abramovic
“An artist has to look at the future, to see what we can do better.”
― Marina Abramovic
“The world doesn’t need an artist who shows reality as it is.”
― Marina Abramovic
“Theater is something that as a performance artist you have to hate.”
― Marina Abramovic
“I believe the artist has an obligation to society.”
― Marina Abramovic
“Being an artist is not easy – I have always said that to the students I have taught over the years. It’s a huge sacrifice.”
― Marina Abramovic
“An artist should not fall in love with another artist.”
― Marina Abramovic
“I’m not feminist, by the way. I am just an artist.”
― Marina Abramovic
“I prepare a lot. For ‘The Artist Is Present,’ it took me a year to teach my body not to produce acids.”
― Marina Abramovic
“You know what, if you compromise and do stuff that’s not becoming to you as an artist, that’s your fault.”
― Marina and the Diamonds
“I hate the whole ‘record your album, do your promo campaign, have a year off to write another album’ pattern. As an artist, you should keep creating as much as you possibly can.”
― Marina and the Diamonds
“I actually quite like promo, which is quite odd for an artist, but recording’s not the easiest thing.”
― Marina and the Diamonds
“Actually, I think that a lot of the interviews and acoustic sessions and other things that artists fill their time with are really pointless and suck the energy out of the artist.”
― Marina and the Diamonds
“The architect aspires to build in a city as the artist aspires to exhibit his works in a museum.”
― Mario Botta
“An artist is maybe not always having a normal life.”
― Marion Cotillard
“I was exposed to the arts, but there was no one in my family who was an artist.”
― Marisa Tomei
“You have to be narcissistic to be an artist. You have to think you are the centre of the whole thing; otherwise, why do you create? The only thing is to recognise it, and then you make the best of it.”
― Marjane Satrapi
“I’m not a politician because I’m an artist. Politicians have a very easy answer for a very complicated question. I have a very complicated question for what you consider very easy situations.”
― Marjane Satrapi
“I’m not a politician. I don’t know how to solve the problems of the world. But as an artist, I have one duty: to ask questions.”
― Marjane Satrapi
“Comics writing is for your artist. It’s not for the general reader; it’s for the artist. So I love writing scripts for artists.”
― Marjorie Liu
“My mom was an orphan, and there was never anybody to tell her what she could or couldn’t do. At the core, she’s probably an artist – an artist and a feminist.”
― Mark Bradford
“I think that there’s a difference between being an entertainer and being an artist.”
― Mark Foster
“I don’t consider myself an entertainer. I consider myself an artist, and I think with that comes responsibility.”
― Mark Foster
“One of the things with the second record, a word I held close to my chest was ‘brave.’ To take chances to go outside the box and explore. To continue to toss off any expectation that our fans or anyone else might have of us, to just tap into who I am as a writer and artist and really just operate within that freedom of creation.”
― Mark Foster
“Fear just crushes creativity, and if I let fear into the studio and into the songwriting, I was going to let it kill the artist inside of me.”
― Mark Foster
“Mitt Romney is a businessman, a turnaround artist, a CEO. That is who he is. The former governor has experience in the public and private sector.”
― Mark McKinnon
“I’ve worked with a lot of directors, some of them you wouldn’t really attach the word ‘artist’ to their name.”
― Mark Mothersbaugh
“I would like to be known as an ‘artist’. Whether that be music, acting, sketching, cooking, whatever. I’m interested in all of those things.”
― Mark Salling
“As far as the balance between being a journalist, being an artist, being a storyteller – documentary filmmakers are all three of those things. The balance between them is affected by the film itself, the topic of the film.”
― Marshall Curry
“Good taste is the first refuge of the non-creative. It is the last-ditch stand of the artist.”
― Marshall McLuhan
“No artist is ahead of his time. He is his time; it is just that others are behind the times.”
― Martha Graham
“The danger for any artist whose work is both recognizable and critically acclaimed is complacent repetition – the temptation to churn out easily identifiable, eagerly welcomed, and readily salable designs.”
― Martin Filler
“The role of the architect as artist is an ancient one, but it was de-emphasized with the rise of modernism, which rejected the drawing-based Beaux-Arts tradition in favor of a more technocratic approach.”
― Martin Filler
“A good artist has less time than ideas.”
― Martin Kippenberger
“An artist who opposes himself still has the best chances to reach some result.”
― Martin Kippenberger
“Pipilotti Rist is a Swiss video artist I learned about pretty early on. She’s one of the first contemporary artists I knew about and was really drawn to.”
― Martine Syms
“I have to prioritize: father first, and then a pastor and a recording artist and entrepreneur. I try to put everything in proper perspective, and then the proper priority.”
― Marvin Sapp
“The job of the artist is to go to the places where most other people are embarrassed to go to. And show it.”
― Mary Gauthier
“What matters is what happens in the soul of an artist when you’re playing.”
― Mary Gauthier
“I believe that if your primary motivation in life is to be moral, you don’t become an artist.”
― Mary Gordon
“I think being tortured as a virtue is a kind of antiquated sense of what it is to be an artist. It comes out of that Symbolist idea, back to Rimbaud and all that disordering of the senses and all of that being some exalted state. When I’ve been that way, I’ve always been less exalted than I would have liked.”
― Mary Karr
“When I came out, I said, ‘I’m going to be a proud gay artist.’ I’m not going to be Melissa Etheridge. But she’s a goddess!”
― Mary Lambert
“I know how I want to operate as an artist. And that is by having an honest, genuine dialogue about this kind of screwed up journey I’ve had that I’m so thankful for.”
― Mary Lambert
“I worked as an artist, played in a band, met Andy Warhol, Christo, Lou Reed, and David Byrne. I had fun.”
― Mary Lou Jepsen
“Cease to be a drudge, seek to be an artist.”
― Mary McLeod Bethune
“In ‘Star Wars: Episode II,’ when Jango Fett is chasing Obi Wan Kenobi through an asteroid field, they needed a big asteroid to shatter into a million pieces, and I had to figure out how to do the fracturing, write the code, and show an artist how to use it.”
― Masi Oka
“I love both acting and programming equally. I think it enriches me and enhances me as an artist.”
― Masi Oka
“I think it enriches you as a scientist to be able to see things in an artistic perspective and as an artist to see things in a scientific perspective.”
― Masi Oka
“I try not to see myself as anything, as that would be embarrassing. But if I had to label myself, I’d probably say I was an artist due to the fact that I enjoy working within the arts on different platforms, of which comedy is just one.”
― Matt Berry
“You have to remember you’re an artist and get hungry.”
― Matt Bomer
“I can safely say that I had an incredibly difficult and trying past growing up and trying to be an artist and standing up as who I am in this world.”
― Matt Bomer
“You’re really lucky as an artist if you get a role that changes you as a person.”
― Matt Bomer
“One of the things about the con artist lifestyle is that all the romance is sort of sloppy and fast and loose.”
― Matt Bomer
“When there’s writing that you really trust, it’s very freeing as an artist.”
― Matt LeBlanc
“The important thing for me as an artist is to keep going back to the page and doing what I do.”
― Matthew Quick
“I’m from a family of bankers and businessmen, and here I am, the artist, the black sheep.”
― Matthew Quick
“An artist carries on throughout his life a mysterious, uninterrupted conversation with his public.”
― Maurice Chevalier
“I wanted to be acknowledged as an artist, not just some kiddie-book artist.”
― Maurice Sendak
“Never give an artist like me carte blanche: he would think it’s simply toilet paper.”
― Maurizio Cattelan
“I am not an artist.”
― Maurizio Cattelan
“I have my struggles. But I’m doing whatever it takes to be an artist, to be the best technical jumper I can be, the best spinner I can be. Nothing is easy about that. But I’m doing whatever I can to be the best.”
― Max Aaron
“The defining function of the artist is to cherish consciousness.”
― Max Eastman
“The artist writes, paints, sings or dances the burden of some idea or feeling off his mind.”
― Max Nordau
“I will always desire to play with Bruce Springsteen. He’s the most inspirational, most dedicated, most committed and most focused artist I’ve ever seen. I like to be around people like that.”
― Max Weinberg
“The role of art in society differs for every artist.”
― Maya Lin
“Even though I build buildings and I pursue my architecture, I pursue it as an artist. I deliberately keep a tiny studio. I don’t want to be an architectural firm. I want to remain an artist.”
― Maya Lin
“My mother worked as an artist until she was 96.”
― Maye Musk
“There’s a tremendous amount to be gained from being a performer, and being an artist, and being an actor.”
― Mayim Bialik
“I always knew that I wanted to be an artist.”
― Maynard James Keenan
“After two years in the songwriting world, I wrote ‘All About That Bass.’ L.A. Reid heard it and signed me as an artist.”
― Meghan Trainor
“I’ve never been a die-hard fan, like a crazy fan for an artist.”
― Meghan Trainor
“I hadn’t been a recording artist all that long when albums came on the scene, and I was one of the first singers to point the way to how varied an album’s contents could be.”
― Mel Torme
“I consider myself more of an international artist than I do a one-territory artist, which I think is a blessing.”
― Melanie Fiona
“I’ve admired Alicia Keys since before I got into the music industry, just everything she represents as a female artist.”
― Melanie Fiona
“I’m just happy I got to express who I am as an artist and touch people’s hearts.”
― Melanie Martinez
“I’m not necessarily a happy singer. That’s not who I am as an artist.”
― Melanie Martinez
“I didn’t have any real idea that I was going to be an artist; I had no idea what that meant.”
― Melanie Martinez
“I really believe that every character comes from the well of the artist.”
― Melora Hardin
“I love being a mommy, and I love being an artist, and I love being a singer and an actress and making a movie – all that stuff I feel very passionate about, so I have a lot of energy for it.”
― Melora Hardin
“Let not a man do what his sense of right bids him not to do, nor desire what it forbids him to desire. This is sufficient. The skillful artist will not alter his measures for the sake of a stupid workman.”
― Mencius
“My parents always saw me as an artist, and that greatly influenced me.”
― Meredith Brooks
“I think about that ’empty’ space a lot. That emptiness is what allows for something to actually evolve in a natural way. I’ve had to learn that over the years – because one of the traps of being an artist is to always want to be creating, always wanting to produce.”
― Meredith Monk
“I somehow sensed when I was a teenager that I wanted to do my own work. I was quite clear that I didn’t want to be an interpretative kind of artist. I had an intuition about wanting to create my own form, in one way or another, whatever that would be.”
― Meredith Monk
“I was able to endure and play a special part in music history. And I always managed to keep working, even if I wasn’t a big solo artist.”
― Merry Clayton
“Allow the artist to finish the piece of work before you critique it.”
― Meshell Ndegeocello
“Future’s a workaholic. That’s definitely the most hard-working artist I know.”
― Metro Boomin
“One song will launch you, but you don’t want to be a one-song artist.”
― Michael Bolton
“The artist that had the biggest impact on me was Michael Jackson. He was my Elvis and Beatles. When I was 15, I listened to a lot of Sinatra, but my jean jacket didn’t have, ‘I love Frank’ on it, it had, ‘I love AC/DC’, ‘Guns N Roses’, ‘Pearl Jam’. I thought Eddie Vedder was the second coming.”
― Michael Buble
“My uncle is a martial artist, and in the early ’80s, he made a kung fu flick with director Charlie Ahearn.”
― Michael Che
“Any man’s death diminishes us, but when an artist passes away, we lose not just an island but an entire archipelago.”
― Michael Dirda
“Mentoring is the last refuge of the older artist. With luck, disciples will keep one’s books in print, one’s reputation alive.”
― Michael Dirda
“As a child, I was obsessed with drawing things, like Mickey and Donald. And houses. My mother was worried I’d become an artist.”
― Michael Graves
“An artist is someone who should raise questions rather than give answers. I have no message.”
― Michael Haneke
“For years, I kept the two separate: Michael Horse the artist and Michael Horse the actor. I like the acting, but I’m an artist; that’s my identity.”
― Michael Horse
“I’ve always thought of myself primarily as an artist; it’s what I most define myself as. The acting was all an accident.”
― Michael Horse
“I’ve always been an artist that has had a problem with genres, staying in the box, and being told what I had to be.”
― Michael McDonald
“I’m not the kind of artist who can just gear myself to a particular radio format without looking like a fashion victim.”
― Michael McDonald
“The biggest threat to any politician is an artist. Comedians unleashed can do a great deal of damage. David Letterman can do more damage than any Republican assault by Newt Gingrich.”
― Michael Moriarty
“As an artist, you don’t think about the parabola or the arc you’re describing or where you’re going to ultimately end up, you’re just kind of crawling around, seeing what’s out there.”
― Michael Nesmith
“I don’t know if I’m necessarily a role model, but hopefully I can inspire any artist – Latin or otherwise – to do this thing for a living.”
― Michael Pena
“The greatness of being an artist is the kind of ridiculous guffaw you can have at one’s own misery. ‘That was miserable! Now how can I write about it?’”
― Michael Winter
“The marble not yet carved can hold the form of every thought the greatest artist has.”
― Michelangelo
“The greatest artist has no conception which a single block of white marble does not potentially contain within its mass, but only a hand obedient to the mind can penetrate to this image.”
― Michelangelo
“Push the envelope too far as a female artist, and you may only earn an ocean of ink expressing concern for your delicate constitution, amounting to a caution against playing on traditionally male wavelengths.”
― Michelle Dean
“As an actor, you hope to find roles that are challenging to you as an artist. Then if you are truly blessed, you will find that it also carries a message that you can impart to your audience.”
― Michelle Yeoh
“Sometimes I think it’s the responsibility of the artist to reveal a little more of themselves.”
― Mickalene Thomas
“I’ve had a lot of opportunities to grow inside and out as a performer, artist, and a woman.”
― Mickie James
“Probably the first artist who really captured me was Tim McGraw. His songs ‘Don’t Take the Girl’ and ‘Indian Outlaw’ were fun, and he was different than a lot of artists.”
― Mickie James
“I’m an artist, a performer… There’s an art to what we do to the wrestling… I don’t want to really fight anybody.”
― Mickie James
“Interestingly, I matured as a musician and as an artist before I matured as a man. What I mean by that is, I was ready to be completely vulnerable and honest with myself and unapologetic when it comes to how I express myself in my medium. But I wasn’t as secure in doing that when it came to just being myself.”
― Miguel
“I think it’s natural for an artist to explore as they evolve.”
― Miguel
“I just think that Jack White is the consummate artist – an artist’s artist. I’m a huge fan.”
― Miguel
“I don’t think I live the lifestyle that’s expected of a quote unquote R&B artist. I’m just not that dude.”
― Miguel
“I think at any point, as an artist, whatever the medium – just having an audience means the world.”
― Miguel
“Mixed reactions? Sure, I get them all the time. I’m a Marmite artist.”
― Mika
“I’m not creating an enigma or leaving mystery, I’m just respecting myself enough as an artist to give myself room to grow and not to be devoured all in one go.”
― Mika
“I’d never compare myself to Freddie Mercury because I look up to him far too much. As an artist, not necessarily as a person.”
― Mika
“My graffiti really comes more from a May ’68, sort of Situationist vibe than the hip-hop world. I think a real graffiti artist would find me a poser.”
― Mike Mills
“As an artist, I would never let myself get boxed in. I’m a human being, too, and like most humans, I have interest in many different types of music.”
― Mike Patton
“It’s always hard for an artist from the U.K. to break into the United States. It’s especially harder for a rapper because hip-hop is such an American art form.”
― Mike Posner
“A lot of people considered my career as an artist largely over. Two albums got shelved. But I’ve made music since I was a little kid, and for the majority of that time, I wasn’t paid for it. So I will always be making it.”
― Mike Posner
“When you’re a writer, your song has to resonate with the person you’re writing for in order for them to want to sing it. But if you’re an artist, you can sing whatever you want.”
― Mike Posner
“I’m inspired by nature. Other artist’s work is important for developing my perception.”
― Mike Thompson
“I have such an eclectic taste in music. Come to a backyard BBQ at my house, and I will run the gamut from Skynyrd to Sinatra to ’90s grunge, rap, R&B, and classic rock. I have issues. If I had to pick one, I love this country artist named Craig Morgan. His music and his songs are so relatable and tell such vivid stories.”
― Mike Vogel
“That’s the most important part of all the music I produce: making sure the artist is bringing themselves out in the music.”
― Mike Will Made It
“The thing to judge in any jazz artist is, does the man project and does he have ideas.”
― Miles Davis
“I just want to make one really good movie a year. And when I die, to know I was honest as an artist.”
― Milla Jovovich
“There were a million different things I could have chosen or wanted to do, but the path of an artist was the one that pulled me the most.”
― Milo Ventimiglia
“I find being an adult very difficult. Being an adult artist, Asian American, incredibly difficult. Or trying, anyway.”
― Min Jin Lee
“As an artist, my wheelhouse is 19th-century literature. I want to write realist novels in a Victorian sense, and the writers I admire in that style tend to do omniscient narration.”
― Min Jin Lee
“As a young artist working in multiple mediums, the work and especially the writings of artist Laszlo Moholy-Nagy were very important to me.”
― Miranda July
“At the very beginning of my career I felt very strongly about what type of artist I wanted to be.”
― Miranda Lambert
“In terms of my development as an artist, playing Professor Sprout wasn’t all that important because she is well within my capabilities as an actress. But in terms of marketability, it made an enormous difference.”
― Miriam Margolyes
“We really didn’t have any literature telling us it was a good thing to be a woman artist. When I was trained, there were no precedents, and that was something to get really angry about.”
― Miriam Schapiro
“All of the trials and tribulations from personal to the artist. It shows that I’m human. People see the glamorous stuff, but they don’t see the background.”
― Missy Elliott
“When I first started out in the music industry and went to Elektra Records, I didn’t go to be an artist, I went to get a record label started. And they said in order to have a label deal, I had to be an artist – so that’s what I did.”
― Missy Elliott
“You don’t make any money being an artist. Writing and producing? You get your money from that. You live comfortable.”
― Missy Elliott
“I don’t want to get caught up and be an artist always on the go. Because once you do that, it’s hard to get into the studio and do what I do.”
― Missy Elliott
“I didn’t want to just be an artist and let someone else have all that control over me. I knew I would have to produce.”
― Missy Elliott
“As an artist, Priyanka Chopra is quite inspiring – she is unstoppable, fierce, and she does everything!”
― Mithila Palkar
“I think people don’t realize how little of being an artist is making art.”
― Mitski
“I think it’s very dangerous as an artist to be comfortable.”
― Mitski
“The reason I put make-up on or wear the costume is to try and find my own style. It’s like my guitar style – I’m just trying to be an original artist.”
― Miyavi
“I feel responsible to make something original as a Japanese artist. There are lots of singers and guitarists, but I feel that on stage it’s meaningless to copy something someone has done before.”
― Miyavi
“My cousin lives in Delhi, so I kept visiting the city and got really fascinated with DU. Apart from studies, one also gets good exposure to music here. For an artist, there are a lot of opportunities in the city.”
― Mohit Chauhan
“I don’t want to be a Michael Moore-style artist, which is not to disparage Michael Moore. But he seems rather unsuccessful at winning people over who don’t already agree with him.”
― Mohsin Hamid
“I think we need to radically reimagine the future – citizens, artist, writers, politicians, everyone.”
― Mohsin Hamid
“I’m an artist and a journalist. I travel around the world very often for ‘Vice Magazine,’ and I draw and I write about prisons, about conflict zones.”
― Molly Crabapple
“I was involved in Occupy Wall Street as a participant and poster artist. ‘Shell Game’ is an attempt to do something bigger, to use whatever artistic powers I have to explore the excitements and betrayals of that year.”
― Molly Crabapple
“I’m only the third artist who’s ever drawn at Gitmo.”
― Molly Crabapple
“Can a secular artist be used as a vessel to bring souls to Christ? Of course… this is God we are talking about!”
― Monica Johnson
“Failure and its accompanying misery is for the artist his most vital source of creative energy.”
― Montgomery Clift
“I never imagined I’d be a solo artist. And now I couldn’t imagine being part of a group.”
― Morrissey
“I’m just an artist and I’m doin’ what I like to do.”
― Mos Def
“I didn’t watch ‘The A-Team’ movie. I’m an artist. You can’t re-paint a Rembrandt. You can’t duplicate that; I don’t care who you get.”
― Mr. T
“I care about music and money. I’m an artist first.”
― Musiq Soulchild
“I like to entertain people according to what they’re saying entertains them. As an artist, musician, songwriter and producer, I sit back and hear it, and… if that’s what y’all like, I can do that.”
― Musiq Soulchild
“I’ve been able to become an entrepreneur and an independent artist.”
― Mya
“I’m kind of a firm believer that songs can have a shelf life with an artist.”
― Myles Kennedy
“I have to be able to be the artist that I am.”
― Mystikal
“I did my thing with Jive. I was a national recording artist, but I had run into a wall.”
― Mystikal
“As a person, I believe that I am sensitive, which helped me be the artist I am.”
― Nadia Ali
“I cannot sing Vampirella artist Patrick Berkenkotter’s praises loudly or often enough.”
― Nancy A. Collins
“I wasn’t allowed to grow as an artist. My albums were nicer to look at than to listen to.”
― Nancy Sinatra
“I love power. But it is as an artist that I love it. I love it as a musician loves his violin, to draw out its sounds and chords and harmonies.”
― Napoleon Bonaparte
“I’ve known the glory of the stage and the glory of the spotlight. I still crave it. I want to be on ‘American Bandstand’ and ‘Soul Train’ as a solo artist. As a producer, songwriter and arranger, I help other artists say what they want to say. But on my records, I say what I want to say.”
― Narada Michael Walden
“Anybody can be a rapper, but not anybody can be a classical artist.”
― Nas
“I am famous because I am an African American jazz artist.”
― Nat King Cole
“Being my dad’s daughter has allowed me to do a lot of things that maybe another artist might not be able to do or wouldn’t be necessarily embraced doing.”
― Natalie Cole
“I like to grow and experiment, and as an artist, it’s about kicking the bar up a little.”
― Natalie Cole
“I knew I didn’t want to make a country record just because that’s not really what I would have ever made as a solo artist.”
― Natalie Maines
“I was poor. I struggled big time, living hand to mouth so I could be the kind of artist I want to be.”
― Natalie Prass
“It’s an artist’s choice to speak up about social issues, but I think it’s really important, and my favorite artists have spoken out.”
― Natalie Prass
“When I was 23, I moved to Australia to be with this 43-year-old con artist I fell in love with.”
― Natasha Leggero
“Doing representations of real people is not my strongpoint as a visual artist, and I know that.”
― Nate Powell
“I am an artist who works with Lego.”
― Nathan Sawaya
“I really like to vibe with people and to connect, and I know that I’m a stronger artist now than what I used to be.”
― Natti Natasha
“In my music, I’m uncensored, which has helped me stand out as a female artist.”
― Natti Natasha
“There’s a whole advantage being an executive as an artist.”
― Ne-Yo
“Beyonce’s the kind of artist where you’re not gonna see it till it’s right.”
― Ne-Yo
“It’s really rare that an entire genre of music allows an artist from a different genre to come and live there.”
― Ne-Yo
“Me being an artist working with dancers and seeing how hard they work, they are the first to show up and the last to leave. They work just as hard, if not harder, than me – and they never get credit for it.”
― Ne-Yo
“I feel, as an artist, that we don’t do enough to appreciate our fans. We are in this position because of the fans, and it’s really a blessing.”
― Ne-Yo
“I think that Curt Swan, when he did Superman for the longest time, became the definitive Superman artist, and everybody got it. That made him very, very special in the annals of comic books.”
― Neal Adams
“Divine fires do not blaze each day, but an artist functions in their afterglow hoping for their recurrence.”
― Ned Rorem
“Arguably, no artist grows up: If he sheds the perceptions of childhood, he ceases being an artist.”
― Ned Rorem
“So I went out and bought myself a copy of the Writer and Artist Yearbook, bought lots of magazines and got on the phone and talked to editors about ideas for stories. Pretty soon I found myself hired to do interviews and articles and went off and did them.”
― Neil Gaiman
“I’ve seen rock stars agonize over the fact that another artist has far more Facebook ‘likes’ and Twitter followers than they do.”
― Neil Strauss
“I think naturally I’m a very visual kind of person. If I wasn’t in filmmaking, I’d be in something related to visuals. And I used to actually work as a visual-effects artist.”
― Neill Blomkamp
“I’m privileged that I’m an artist.”
― Nelly Furtado
“I’m a free spirit and that definitely comes from my upbringing, so it’s definitely shaped me as an artist.”
― Neon Hitch
“My favourite thing to do as an artist is record. It’s a super therapeutic thing for me. Not to sound corny, but it literally is a stress relief for me.”
― NF
“I’m a Christian, but I’m just an artist. I’m a musician.”
― NF
“An artist’s duty is rather to stay open-minded and in a state where he can receive information and inspiration. You always have to be ready for that little artistic Epiphany.”
― Nick Cave
“You can’t trust an artist that just makes good records.”
― Nick Cave
“The one thing I’m really the most confident in as an artist is my songwriting ability and ear for pop music. I’m really excited to show that off. It was a side that I wasn’t able to show on ‘American Idol.’”
― Nick Fradiani
“I think my favorite song from another artist would have to be ‘Superstition’ by Stevie Wonder.”
― Nick Jonas
“If you’re an original thinker, you are going get told ‘no’ a lot, and you have to be able to hear ‘no’ many times from the bankers and trust that at some point, someone is going to recognize that you are an artist and not a can of soda.”
― Nick Offerman
“The Internet is the greatest tool for any artist to have interaction with any audience.”
― Nick Rhodes
“Dad was a world-famous astronomer; Mom was the artist who drew the iconic Pioneer plaque.”
― Nick Sagan
“I was never a skilled artist or anything like that – never a rebel.”
― Nicky Oppenheimer
“I wish I was a great writer or a great journalist or a great scientist or a great artist; I’m not.”
― Nicolas Berggruen
“I started buying films a couple of years ago. The first film-maker I began to obsessively collect was Andy Milligan. He was a New York frustrated artist.”
― Nicolas Winding Refn
“I always wanted to be a makeup artist. When I don’t get to have my stylist, I do my own makeup!”
― Nikki Reed
“There’s never been a song that I just wrote and tried to send to an artist.”
― Nile Rodgers
“My responsibility is to the artist first. There’s something that artists intrinsically know about their music and their fanbase that neither the record company nor the producer really knows.”
― Nile Rodgers
“It’s an artist’s duty to reflect the times in which we live.”
― Nina Simone
“The artist part of me always wants to be appreciated. I read every review. But I never wanted to seek validation by awards or anything controlled by politics.”
― Nipsey Hussle
“As an entrepreneur, as an investor, I’m trying to be as educated as I can to where the progression of technological capability is going and what it does to these different categories that, me as an artist and an influencer, I can get involved and bring value.”
― Nipsey Hussle
“I think that every artist – or anybody that’s in business – could benefit from a direct-to-consumer strategy, so I think that that applies to us as artists and content creators, too.”
― Nipsey Hussle
“A solution built by an artist serves the artist more than the solution the capitalist comes up with.”
― Nipsey Hussle
“Every artist wants something different out the game.”
― Nipsey Hussle
“I’m now able to show who I am as an artist.”
― Noah Cyrus
“I don’t fall into the category of tortured artist. But it’s not made me more or less anything.”
― Noel Gallagher
“For a young artist to really make it and make money is a lot more difficult these days.”
― Norah Jones
“Sam Shepard is – I didn’t tell this to Sammy, but if I had to point to one artist that made me want to do this for my life, it’s Sam Shepard.”
― Norbert Leo Butz
“In America there’s no rights for the artist, so whatever films I’ve made kind of belong to the studio.”
― Norman Jewison
“As you know, in America there’s no rights for the artist, so whatever films I’ve made kind of belong to the studio, so if they want to remake it they can.”
― Norman Jewison
“A revised schedule is to business what a new season is to an athlete or a new canvas to an artist.”
― Norman Ralph Augustine
“An artist should remain true. Otherwise his talent, like his stomach, grows fat and stuffy.”
― Norman Reilly Raine
“Only an artist can interpret the meaning of life.”
― Novalis
“The artist belongs to his work, not the work to the artist.”
― Novalis
“I’m hungry as an artist to find opportunities to contribute to the world in a more meaningful way than just numbing people through entertainment.”
― O. T. Fagbenle
“I’m the 1st black platinum artist in Detroit, solo artist in Detroit.”
― Obie Trice
“The work of art is always unfaithful to its creator… Art lays at a higher level; it says something more, and almost always, it says something different from what the artist wanted to say.”
― Octavio Paz
“I can’t even imagine how it must be to be a solo artist playing with session musicians.”
― Oliver Sim
“I’m a painter. I was a graffiti artist, and I painted all over the world.”
― Olivier Megaton
“I’ve established myself as a proper artist. And it’s ridiculous when anyone questions my credibility – I’ve had four number one singles and I’ve also sold over two and a half million albums. I shouldn’t have to convince people that I’m credible, but I’m glad people are now taking me more seriously.”
― Olly Murs
“I found poetry at 12 and 13 and, lo and behold, learned that my attorney father had a background in poetry – as he wore dashikis and Afros in the ’70s and named his kids Arabic names. He was a poet and a lot like The Last Poets and Gil Scott-Heron and all of these folks. He definitely was an artist.”
― Omari Hardwick
“I am not a dancehall artist, and I am not a reggae artist.”
― OMI
“I think it’s important to evolve and make a different record every time as an artist.”
― Orianthi
“Being promoted as a bubble-gum type artist that has one hit and it’s all over is not something I want to do. I want a long career. I want to continue to play guitar and have as much guitar in there as possible in a commercial song without being too indulgent.”
― Orianthi
“I think an artist has always to be out of step with his time.”
― Orson Welles
“The first thing one must remember about film is that it is a young medium. And it is essential for every responsible artist to cultivate the ground that has been left fallow.”
― Orson Welles
“A good artist should be isolated. If he isn’t isolated, something is wrong.”
― Orson Welles
“In designing the scenery and costumes for any of Shakespeare’s plays, the first thing the artist has to settle is the best date for the drama. This should be determined by the general spirit of the play more than by any actual historical references which may occur in it.”
― Oscar Wilde
“No great artist ever sees things as they really are. If he did, he would cease to be an artist.”
― Oscar Wilde
“The critic has to educate the public; the artist has to educate the critic.”
― Oscar Wilde
“Every portrait that is painted with feeling is a portrait of the artist, not of the sitter.”
― Oscar Wilde
“The function of the artist is to invent, not to chronicle.”
― Oscar Wilde
“Nothing, indeed, is more dangerous to the young artist than any conception of ideal beauty: he is constantly led by it either into weak prettiness or lifeless abstraction: whereas to touch the ideal at all, you must not strip it of vitality.”
― Oscar Wilde
“That, to me, is the real crossover: a mainstream artist singing in Spanish.”
― Ozuna
“I was a visual artist primarily and a writer, even from a very young age.”
― P. J. Harvey
“Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once we grow up.”
― Pablo Picasso
“God is really only another artist. He invented the giraffe, the elephant and the cat. He has no real style, He just goes on trying other things.”
― Pablo Picasso
“All children are artists. The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up.”
― Pablo Picasso
“I don’t believe that I should just do A-movies, I just do the work as an artist.”
― Pam Grier
“I took my daughters to see Plastic Ono Band at the Orpheum in L.A. in 2012. It was an amazing experience because she is such a revolutionary artist. Everybody was like, ‘Oh, it’s Yoko, it’s such a joke.’ But it’s no joke what she did, visually and musically. It’s incredible.”
― Pamela Adlon
“If you want to release your own single, there cannot be a better launch than going to Los Angeles and collaborating with a renowned artist.”
― Parineeti Chopra
“As an artist, you’re always going to be yearning and wanting and never satisfied. I never feel like I’ve really achieved something.”
― Parker Posey
“As an artist, my only relationship to my audience is through my work. That relationship is sacred to me.”
― Parvathy
“I reserve the right to be a participating citizen and artist.”
― Parvathy
“As an artist, I feel you can have a debut just once.”
― Parvathy
“I see myself as an artist who happens to do cartoons.”
― Pat Oliphant
“’Hellraiser’ is an amazing world that Clive Barker created, and it is such a beautifully vibrant and surreal world within which to work. It is also not an undaunting canvas. It is a canvas created by an artist.”
― Patrick Lussier
“Why do we make records? Because we want to say something. Why are you in art? Because you want to say something. The second you don’t have anything to say, you stop making art – you might start making product. And I’m interested in being an artist.”
― Patrick Stump
“If brands can find a voice that matches them, and the artist embraces it, they can find a way that would serve them that doesn’t feel like a sellout to the artists and has dramatic impact for the brand.”
― Patrick Whitesell
“I developed ‘Power: From the Mouths of the Occupied’ while I was an Artist in Residence at Kalamazoo College.”
― Patrisse Cullors
“Of course, every artist has ‘minor works’ that they do, but I don’t think I have any ‘minor disciplines.’ Each discipline I approach as a major undertaking that I put my whole self into.”
― Patti Smith
“An artist is somebody who enters into competition with God.”
― Patti Smith
“I never felt oppressed because of my gender. When I’m writing a poem or drawing, I’m not a female; I’m an artist.”
― Patti Smith
“An artist may have burdens the ordinary citizen doesn’t know, but the ordinary citizen has burdens that many artists never even touch.”
― Patti Smith
“Besides me wanting to be an artist, I wanted to be a movie star.”
― Patti Smith
“Let’s just say that I think any person who aspires, presumes, or feels the calling to be an artist has a built-in sense of duty.”
― Patti Smith
“No, my work does not reflect my sexual preferences, it reflects the fact that I feel total freedom as an artist.”
― Patti Smith
“When I was young, all I wanted was to write books and be an artist.”
― Patti Smith
“An artist wears his work in place of wounds.”
― Patti Smith
“I always wanted to be an artist, writer and poet since I was seven, and one has to live long enough to evolve as an artist and do one’s finest work.”
― Patti Smith
“What a model of an artist was for me was an artist who worked. Picasso was the ultimate model, because the work ethic he had.”
― Patti Smith
“As a citizen, hopefully I’m humanist. As an artist, I’m free.”
― Patti Smith
“I’d just sort of gravitated toward the arts, and I had always loved music and really loved theater, even though I didn’t want to act. For some reason, being in Kansas, you can either be a graphic artist or a visual artist, so I decided, ‘I guess I’m going to be a painter.’”
― Patty Jenkins
“The most seductive thing about art is the personality of the artist himself.”
― Paul Cezanne
“The artist makes things concrete and gives them individuality.”
― Paul Cezanne
“Doubtless there are things in nature which have not yet been seen. If an artist discovers them, he opens the way for his successors.”
― Paul Cezanne
“As an artist, you do understand you’re never going to please everybody.”
― Paul Emsley
“The history of modern art is also the history of the progressive loss of art’s audience. Art has increasingly become the concern of the artist and the bafflement of the public.”
― Paul Gauguin
“The true artist is never afraid of anything – including the glories of the past.”
― Paul Horgan
“Nature is garrulous to the point of confusion, let the artist be truly taciturn.”
― Paul Klee
“Look, people are allowed their own opinions and they don’t always coincide with yours. As an artist you just have to keep plugging on.”
― Paul McCartney
“What is the difference between a truly creative artist and an interpretive artist? I have not concluded anything about that, but it’s fair to ask the question.”
― Paul Newman
“Artistic tricks divert from the effect that an artist endeavors to produce, and even excellent elements such as bullets, arrows, brackets, ornate initials, are at best superficial ornamentation unless logically employed.”
― Paul Rand
“Any system that sees aesthetics as irrelevant, that separates the artist from his product, that fragments the work of the individual, or creates by committee, or makes mincemeat of the creative process will, in the long run, diminish not only the product but the maker as well.”
― Paul Rand
“I toured with Lynyrd Skynyrd as a solo artist, many years ago. I love those guys.”
― Paul Rodgers
“I suppose an artist takes the elements of his life and rearranges them and then has them perceived by others as though they were the elements of their lives.”
― Paul Simon
“Being an artist doesn’t mean that you’re a good artist. That was the bargain I first made with myself: I’d say, I’m an artist, but I’m not really very good.”
― Paul Simon
“The artist’s world is limitless. It can be found anywhere, far from where he lives or a few feet away. It is always on his doorstep.”
― Paul Strand
“An artist never really finishes his work, he merely abandons it.”
― Paul Valery
“I want to see where and how far I can go as an artist. I look back and see what I’ve done, and I want to do as much as I can in my lifetime. I love doing it. If I didn’t have that passion or love for it, I wouldn’t do it.”
― Paul Weller
“Any musician who can stop may be a musician, but they’re no artist. If it’s in your blood, it can’t stop flowing.”
― Paul Westerberg
“The first prerogative of an artist in any medium is to make a fool of himself.”
― Pauline Kael
“I’m an artist in my heart.”
― Payal Kadakia
“I’m having fun just being a musician as well as an artist at this point.”
― Peabo Bryson
“I’m an artist, and I’m part of every decision in a movie.”
― Pedro Almodovar
“I want to be remembered as somebody that tried to respect her integrity as an artist and as a person. And I don’t want to be in any box. I don’t want to be one thing.”
― Penelope Cruz
“I also had this artist friend who’d paint butterflies and things like that on my head.”
― Persis Khambatta
“The background of any artist is shaped by the first 15 years of his or her life.”
― Pete Hamill
“I only really started to go to plays and to be interested in drama 20 years ago when as an artist I was already well-rounded. I think I’m more disciplined today.”
― Pete Townshend
“In the high level cartoon world, my number one admired hero would be Chas Addams – really a top, top artist that the ‘New Yorker’ was lucky to find and employ.”
― Peter Beard
“An artist who goes around proclaiming that the art he’s making is art is probably making a serious mistake. And that’s one mistake I try not to make.”
― Peter Beard
“As an artist, you are aware there is this strange money market out there, but you have no sense of how it works.”
― Peter Doig
“An artist has to be selfish; otherwise, he’s not true to his own art.”
― Peter Frampton
“I believe I’m an artist that just shines live – it’s just something that happens.”
― Peter Frampton
“I’ve never stopped making new music, and whether the audience wants to hear it or not, I’m going to play it. Because I’m an artist, and I create, and I’ve got new stuff.”
― Peter Frampton
“One thing that really appeals to me is this idea of music being a living thing that has an evolution that, in a way, enables the artist to sell a process rather than a piece of product.”
― Peter Gabriel
“I think another thing is that we don’t really want exclusivity. We accept that it is in the artist’s interest to be on sale in every place where they sell music.”
― Peter Gabriel
“I want to be a prime creator – as every self-regarding artist should do.”
― Peter Greenaway
“I was a painter before I was a writer, so I was always a visual artist. And my writing, to me, was always visual.”
― Peter Landesman
“My biggest love is still planets and stars. If I hadn’t become an artist, I’d be an astronomer because I still love it so much.”
― Peter Max
“If, early on, you know how things are put together, then you can build. The architect is in charge of making – he is not an artist.”
― Peter Zumthor
“You get used to it when you feel like you’re an artist.”
― Pharrell Williams
“I like people like Robert De Niro and Anthony Hopkins. And Gianfranco Zola, who played for Chelsea and Italy. He’s an artist with his feet.”
― Phil Daniels
“I think a businessman can be an artist just as much as a writer or a sculptor, so I’m real proud of what the company has become.”
― Phil Knight
“When you get to know an artist, you find out the things that have peeved them over the years, and it’s generally the stuff that has to do with somebody not wanting to do things their way in the studio.”
― Phil Ramone
“Art is maybe a subversive activity. There is a certain rebellion when you are an artist at heart, even if only in the art of living.”
― Philippe Petit
“Fame was never something I was seeking in my artistic journey. It’s to be used as a tool for an artist to break open doors and keep creating. That’s how I enjoyed fame in ’74; it was not just for the emptiness of being famous.”
― Philippe Petit
“Back then, I was an acoustically-oriented artist. Honestly, ‘Poetry Man’ wouldn’t have been my first choice.”
― Phoebe Snow
“The first album was a very successful record. It made me very visible and it’s an immediate association, but I don’t do that anymore. Now I’m true to myself as an artist again. I’m more vocally oriented.”
― Phoebe Snow
“I love color. When I paint, I use a lot of color. I love art that has a vibrancy of color and compositions. I adore the Impressionists, and I’m influenced strongly by them as a self-taught artist.”
― Pierce Brosnan
“I’m an artist, so I love the graphic design of Instagram.”
― Pierce Brosnan
“I paint landscapes, figuratives. I painted all my life. In fact, I started as a commercial artist.”
― Pierce Brosnan
“The artist sees the tragic to such a degree that he is compelled to express the non-tragic.”
― Piet Mondrian
“The position of the artist if humble. He is essentially a channel.”
― Piet Mondrian
“If the paying public demands naturalistic art, then an artist can use his skills to produce such pictures – but these are to be clearly distinguished from the artist’s own art.”
― Piet Mondrian
“I’m no longer an artist, I’m a business partner.”
― Pitbull
“When a young artist is ready, one has to bring him into the limelight.”
― Placido Domingo
“I’m like this ghost – you look around, and all you see is the artist. But if you look at the credits, it’s still Poo Bear.”
― Poo Bear
“I don’t want to be an artist; I don’t really want to sing – though I do sing on a few songs. But I want to be the guy that presents new music from both new artists and established artists at the same time.”
― Poo Bear
“I have been a politically conscious citizen. I’ve been an artist, a reader, and have been chiselled by that.”
― Prakash Raj
“Record contracts are just like – I’m gonna say the word – slavery. I would tell any young artist… don’t sign.”
― Prince
“Every time I collaborate with an artist, I want to surprise fans. I want to do something new.”
― Prince Royce
“Before ‘Gangnam Style’ I was not a good attitude artist.”
― Psy
“The basic principle I have is that what is most Korean is what is the most international. I don’t want to come here and act like I’m an American. I want to showcase the dynamic potential Korea has, and I want to prove that as an artist.”
― Psy
“If a Korean artist reaches to the top, we’re all ready to stand up and applaud for him or her.”
― Psy
“I like the word ‘artist,’ but I don’t like the word ‘artist’ inside my house.”
― Psy
“Biggie is my favorite rapper, for sure. No other artist has impacted me that much.”
― Pusha T
“In the 2000s, I became an artist. I started preserving and educating. I became more obsessed with making iPod playlists for people.”
― Questlove
“A designer is an emerging synthesis of artist, inventor, mechanic, objective economist and evolutionary strategist.”
― R. Buckminster Fuller
“I am very conscious of who I am as an artist and as an inspirational person.”
― R. Kelly
“I said that when I establish myself as an artist that can do pretty much anything I want to do in music, I’m going to make a country album.”
― R. Kelly
“Though I played classical piano since age 5 and sang in a cappella groups, being an artist didn’t seem like something I was talented enough to do full time. So I kind of buried that dream.”
― Rachel Platten
“I’m not an artist that makes singles, I’m an artist that makes albums, and it’s a totally different thing.”
― Raekwon
“I’m not an artist that strays away from my fans. Nah, everybody is open to come and talk to me respectfully and I’m going to give them the same respect.”
― Raekwon
“You can’t stop an artist from expressing his views through art.”
― Raftaar
“You know you have made it as an artist when you have the power to say no.”
― Raftaar
“I’m new to a lot of people, and I don’t think anyone wants to listen to 16 tracks of a new artist.”
― Rag’n’Bone Man
“I’ve blown myself up as a revolutionary and conscious artist. As a philanthropist and a performer.”
― Raheem DeVaughn
“It’s my responsibility as an artist and public figure to put the right frequency out there.”
― Raheem DeVaughn
“Being an indie artist, you have to fight for position against a major.”
― Raheem DeVaughn
“I went to college to find myself. That’s where I really realized I wanted to be a recording artist and started on the process of figuring out how to do that.”
― Raheem DeVaughn
“No great art has ever been made without the artist having known danger.”
― Rainer Maria Rilke
“I stick to my guns – that’s what keeps me going as an artist. Stevie Wonder never changed from what he wanted to do, and each new album that came along was dope.”
― Rakim
“Maino is an artist that I feel walks what he talks – you can tell what he raps about and what he’s been through is very similar. You’ve got a lot of rappers that rap about what they’ve heard or seen, but I think Maino is one of the rappers that has actually lived it.”
― Rakim
“I was an underground artist, but the underground status was successful. Coming from where I came from to see where rap is now, now artists are selling from a million to eight million copies.”
― Rakim
“As a young artist, especially in rap and at that time that I came out, originality was big.”
― Rakim
“Hema ji is a dedicated artist and a perfectionist who continues to rehearse on her lines till she gets them right.”
― Rakul Preet Singh
“As an artist, I want to interpret my feelings – not run across the street and ask what my mother thinks.”
― Ralph Bakshi
“It’s like I’m basically an artist. I’m no different from a painter who sits there and loves what he does.”
― Ralph H. Baer
“I am an artist and have no right buggering about with verbs and split infinitives, which is what being a writer says to me.”
― Ralph Steadman
“Just as theater has to be where people live, actors have to go out in the marketplace – not be cut off by a lens. Either an artist grows or he stagnates.”
― Ralph Waite
“Every artist was first an amateur.”
― Ralph Waldo Emerson
“I think that putting merchandising into the hands of the artist themselves is one of the best things for the artist.”
― Randall Munroe
“I guess I had a suspicion of it my entire life without knowing exactly what it was – knowing that there was something different about me, which I attributed to being an artist. At 11 or 12 I started sort of clarifying for myself. It took a while.”
― Randy Harrison
“You can only be free as an artist if you’re free as a person.”
― Randy Jackson
“You continue to evolve with each album that goes by and, as an artist, you continue to expand with every recording project.”
― Randy Travis
“I consider myself first of all an artist. My work is about my creativity – why I create and not for whom.”
― Raoul Peck
“That’s what as an artist you always try to do. To try to be a sharper mind than the average person.”
― Raoul Peck
“I liked the name Saadiq and didn’t want to be known as an artist as Raphael Wiggins.”
― Raphael Saadiq
“As an artist, I’ve always felt most comfortable outside of the art supply store. So domestic materials are the ones that most help inform what I’m trying to talk about and our familiarity as a whole – kind of the collective us, I guess.”
― Rashid Johnson
“A lot of people like structure, so there’s definitely a risk with being an artist that a lot of people aren’t really willing to take.”
― Ravyn Lenae
“Any artist, when he goes in to record, should have the feeling that any song he records can be a hit. This may sound egotistical, but it makes sense.”
― Ray Charles
“I tell my friends about my conversations with my father – conversations with an artist.”
― Ray Conniff
“I always felt, as a listener at a show, that when there was too much banter between the artist and the audience that it detracted from the show. I more enjoyed shows where the guys came out and they just played.”
― Ray LaMontagne
“I had no idea that I could sustain a career as an artist. But, I loved music and wanted to be in the music business.”
― Ray Stevens
“I think they want to keep it separate, but I’ve never been a crossover artist for some reason.”
― Reba McEntire
“My advice is, if you are going to go on ‘X Factor,’ you have to know who you are as an artist.”
― Rebecca Ferguson
“There’s a great social component to being a writer, to being an artist.”
― Rebecca Makkai
“Any authentic work of art must start an argument between the artist and his audience.”
― Rebecca West
“When you give an artist a canvas, you shouldn’t tell him exactly how much paint to put on it, or exactly how sharp the images should be. You should let the artist get going.”
― Reed Hundt
“I’m not an artist: I’m a businesswoman. Well, maybe an artist/businesswoman.”
― Rei Kawakubo
“My name is Rene Angelil, throat cancer survivor, artist manager, and I am also known as Celine Dion’s husband.”
― Rene Angelil
“It’s a thrill to see the birth of an artist.”
― Rene Angelil
“For an artist, there’s nothing better than working with an orchestra.”
― Rene Angelil
“I would hardly call myself an artist in that sense; I doodle, I draw, I’m not a trained artist, I couldn’t sit down and do an accurate portrait of anyone.”
― Rene Auberjonois
“I’ve been able to do a lot of cool things. That’s always the dream for any artist.”
― Rex Orange County
“I won’t be the kind of artist speaking in riddles all the time – it will be lyrics that make sense the moment I say them.”
― Rex Orange County
“From the age of six I wanted to be an artist. At that point I meant a painter, but it turned out what I really meant was I was someone who was very interested in watching the world and making copies of it.”
― Reynolds Price
“I am an artisan. I only became an artist when people watch what I do. That is when it becomes art.”
― Rhys Ifans
“I feel like, with an album, that’s how you get to know an artist.”
― Rich Brian
“As an artist, it feels good that we’ve created something that is connecting with the audience, which is what we always strive to do.”
― Rich Moore
“Any artist picks and chooses what they want to paint or write about or say. Photographers are the same.”
― Richard Avedon
“I never wanted to be called an artist. I wanted to be called a photographer.”
― Richard Avedon
“You can’t reject anything in your life as an artist. Everything has its use.”
― Richard C. Armitage
“Being an artist, being an actor, it’s about telling stories that could heal, that could open up discussion that could make the community better.”
― Richard Cabral
“It is said that no star is a heroine to her makeup artist.”
― Richard Corliss
“My father didn’t think being an artist was a respectable or worthy goal for a man.”
― Richard Diebenkorn
“With rare exceptions, I respond most to painting that cuts across grain rather than following it. I think the artist here can get in touch with that grain rather than simply feel its flow. And he really can’t cut right across it anyway.”
― Richard Diebenkorn
“Experiments were not attempted at that time, we did not believe in the usefulness of the concept anyway, and I finished my thesis in 1962 with a feeling like an artist balancing on a high rope without any interested spectators.”
― Richard Ernst
“The workman in the true sense of the word – the artist in guns – is either extinct, or hidden in an obscure corner. There is no individuality about modern guns. One is exactly like another.”
― Richard Jefferies
“Ulrik Ottinger was the most real and experimental of all the German New Wave directors. She was probably the most out-there, too. She’s a fascinating artist in that world.”
― Richard Linklater
“A movie star is not an artist, he is an art object.”
― Richard Schickel
“The artist must bow to the monster of his own imagination.”
― Richard Wright
“With me being an artist that took over a decade to get on, there’s so many different things that I have in common with artists that’s struggling to get on.”
― Rick Ross
“I respect the Grammys, being a writer. But me being an artist representing hip hop? No.”
― Rick Ross
“As an artist, you find at different times you want to do different things.”
― Rick Ross
“I was more than just a moody artist.”
― Rick Springfield
“The great thing about being an artist is, we want our work to be seen.”
― Ricky Gervais
“As an artist, you want as many people as possible to see your work with no interference. And usually, I’ve gone onto fringe channels: BBC Two, HBO, Channel 4.”
― Ricky Gervais
“I’ve felt emotions onstage that I never felt before; it has strengthened me as a person and as an artist.”
― Ricky Martin
“People keep trying to say I’m one type of artist and I’m just not.”
― Rico Nasty
“When I wanted to become an artist I wanted to be versatile but at the same time, fans never know what to expect.”
― Rico Nasty
“You can tell an honest artist from one who’s just given all their songs.”
― Rita Ora
“I like to call myself a 360-degree artist. I’m a musician, but I have other things I do, too.”
― Rita Ora
“I’m really excited to be chosen as a VEVO LIFT artist. It’s a great opportunity to reach millions more music fans with my sound and let them see the real Rita.”
― Rita Ora
“Conquering America for a U.K. artist is incredible because that’s what everybody wants and dreams about. The accomplishment is dominating a market which you aren’t familiar with.”
― Rita Ora
“Over the years, I’ve realized that I have as much in common with the performance artist, the standup comedian, the screenwriter, as I do with the theologian. I’m in an odd world where I make things and share them with people.”
― Rob Bell
“The highest levels of fame in the entertainment business are geared toward keeping the artist disconnected, disinterested and continuing to make product and not developing any sort of ‘normal life.’”
― Rob Lowe
“Bob Dylan is as influential as any artist that there has been.”
― Robbie Robertson
“My wife was a make-up artist, and she’s a total product junkie. Our bathroom is packed full of lotions and potions so I end up trying them out.”
― Robert Carlyle
“On the other hand, the artist has much to do in the realm of color construction, which is so little explored and so obscure, and hardly dates back any farther than to the beginning of Impressionism.”
― Robert Delaunay
“The artist in me cries out for design.”
― Robert Frost
“If you got every single artist in the world in one room, and you put Miles on one side and Prince on the other side, those are the two people that everybody would be trying to get a glimpse of. And Michael Jackson would be the other one.”
― Robert Glasper
“When I was a young artist, and I would go look at other artists’ career retrospectives, and I was often disappointed with the lack of story line… What was missing to me was the story of where the artist came from and how they got to where they were.”
― Robert Gober
“The great poet is a great artist. He is painter and sculptor. The greatest pictures and statues have been painted and chiseled with words. They outlast all others.”
― Robert Green Ingersoll
“I learned how difficult it is to be an artist. There are always compromises. The record company wants you to do this, your fans want you to do this, your family – you can’t concentrate on your work.”
― Robert Hilburn
“It’s a hard thing to be an artist and not give up.”
― Robert Hilburn
“Kendrick Lamar is a great, great thinker. He’s a tremendous artist.”
― Robert Hilburn
“The greater the artist, the greater the doubt. Perfect confidence is granted to the less talented as a consolation prize.”
― Robert Hughes
“To be an artist is not a matter of making paintings or objects at all. What we are really dealing with is our state of consciousness and the shape of our perceptions.”
― Robert Irwin
“My taste comes from when I was 12 years old and saw Genesis or Laurie Anderson or some performance artist who had put paint on himself. I’ve seen a lot of theater, but that’s not what woke up my taste to become a director; nontheatrical things were much more theatrical than the theater I was seeing.”
― Robert Lepage
“I just want to be written about as a normal artist.”
― Robert Mapplethorpe
“I did love ‘The Artist.’ I’ve seen it four times, and every time I see it, it gets better and better.”
― Robert Osborne
“The fact that we were encouraged to follow our conscience and not to follow the crowds – that’s something I really miss. On the other hand, there were things that drove me nuts in the ’60s. There was an aspect of the hippie movement that everyone is an artist, which is lethal.”
― Robert Picardo
“When I started, I was an artist; I wanted to be an artist. I became an actor almost by accident. I acted for fifteen years and tried to produce. I looked for stories that were the story beneath the story that you thought you knew, like ‘The Candidate’.”
― Robert Redford
“Cultural confinement takes place when a curator imposes his own limits on an art exhibition, rather than asking an artist to set his limits.”
― Robert Smithson
“A great chef is an artist that I truly respect.”
― Robert Stack
“The reason you work as an artist is to stay open and ask questions.”
― Robert Wilson
“I’m an artist, not a philosopher.”
― Robert Wilson
“I am an artist through to my marrow, which might be a curse and not necessarily a good thing.”
― Robin Coste Lewis
“The copyright bargain: a balance between protection for the artist and rights for the consumer.”
― Robin Gross
“I am an artist and a political being as well.”
― Robin Morgan
“A certain death of an artist is overconfidence.”
― Robin Trower
“’Honey’ was the first song I wrote where I was really enjoying myself again after questioning the idea of being an artist.”
― Robyn
“’The Outsider’ is a culmination of a lot of things I’ve been working diligently toward as a recording artist. Hopefully it will render my past pigeonholing obsolete while positioning me more solidly as a socially conscious American singer/songwriter. Wouldn’t that be entertaining?”
― Rodney Crowell
“I’ve had a nice career. I’m no David Bowie or Bruce Springsteen out there. I’m not an icon. I’m just a working artist.”
― Rodney Crowell
“As an artist, one of the ingredients to doing good work is self-awareness, and that’s something I cultivate.”
― Rodney Crowell
“Whether they are actual poets or their music exemplifies a poetic sensibility, generally speaking, the Americana artist shuns commercial compromise in favor of a singular vision. Which resonates with me.”
― Rodney Crowell
“My father came from a Quaker family. His father was a professional artist who did portraits – very traditional, a lot of religious subjects.”
― Roger Penrose
“Jeans are never appropriate for business unless you are a artist or cowpuncher.”
― Roger Stone
“For an artist to go and play in a country that occupies other people’s land and oppresses them, the way Israel does, is plain wrong. They should say no.”
― Roger Waters
“I thought I would be a visual artist when I was growing up, so I’m always up for a bit of experimentation.”
― Roisin Murphy
“If I had gone to art college and everybody was being a conceptual artist, I probably would have wanted to be a portrait or landscape painter.”
― Roisin Murphy
“I wasn’t embraced as an Irish artist back in the Moloko days. Modern electronica isn’t what you think of when you think of Irish music.”
― Roisin Murphy
“I feel more like an artist than a pop star, and I accidentally fell into what I do. Everything was just an experiment.”
― Roisin Murphy
“I don’t like permanency. I just like to slip and slide, and in identity, I think that’s a very feminine artist’s point of view.”
― Roisin Murphy
“The reason why I’m not a pop star is I would have hated it. I’ll stick to being an artist. I’m not trying not to be commercial; I am just doing what I do. I have finely tuned tastes, and that gets prioritized above everything else. That’s just how it is.”
― Roisin Murphy
“When I started out, the idea of wearing interesting clothes seemed to contradict the idea of being a serious artist. The first Moloko record, ‘Do You Like My Tight Sweater?’ was kind of a reaction to all that.”
― Roisin Murphy
“It is the artist’s business to create sunshine when the sun fails.”
― Romain Rolland
“I feel the first award any artist can have is his audience.”
― Romeo Santos
“Once an artist makes his personal life public, he can’t close that door.”
― Romeo Santos
“Growing up, I was always trying to catch a great show. And that’s where I learned an artist gets respect. That’s what makes people talk.”
― Romeo Santos
“Part of my success with urban bachata is reinventing yourself as an artist and continuing to give people different kind of fusions, mixing up the elements and concepts without changing the beat.”
― Romeo Santos
“I create the music, and if this artist could complement this record, I reach out.”
― Romeo Santos
“I feel like, as an artist and a songwriter, I have to reach certain audiences and give people a little bit of everything.”
― Romeo Santos
“I’d actually really love to review books and films and plays, but you can’t be an artist and a critic. I would love it if I could.”
― Romola Garai
“Aaliyah has been an artist I’ve grown up with, like an older sister.”
― Romy Madley Croft
“For years, I survived as an artist on grants and touring as a dancer with dance companies, and I was living underground like so many artists, hand-to-mouth and so forth. And I never had the power to make decisions.”
― Ron Ben-Israel
“I have these habits. I’m not a crazy artist. Or am I?”
― Ron Carlson
“I’ve been around a lot of artists who are also good at business, and… one minute they’ll sound like an artist, and the next minute, they’ll sound like the characters in ‘Mad Men.’ Jay-Z’s a very good businessman, and he talks about it and enjoys it, but he doesn’t shift.”
― Ron Howard
“I have a brother who’s a schoolteacher, a sister who’s a graphic artist, a brother who is a lawyer. I have a brother who’s a carpenter.”
― Ronan Farrow
“The industry has changed in that it is far more disposable than it used to be. When Boyzone came out, we were given a shot and the patience to record our singles and albums. Nowadays, the thought is if it is not working, then the artist will be dropped. The record companies will bail on the artists, and I find that sad.”
― Ronan Keating
“I’m a pop artist, and that’s what I’ll always be. I don’t want to be a ‘credible artist.’”
― Ronan Keating
“I’m very much involved in art. I started buying art a few years ago and really like the work of T.C. Cannon, who is a native American artist. Then I was introduced to Soviet-era Russian impressionism and started collecting that, especially Gely Korzhev.”
― Ronnie Dunn
“My record label is treating me like I’m a new artist, which is exciting after all this time.”
― Rosanne Cash
“That’s the thing about being an artist: you never should settle, really.”
― Ross Lynch
“As an artist, you want to entertain people.”
― Ross Lynch
“I was being an artist, being sensitive and technical as artists are. I’m sure Leonardo Da Vinci did that. Artists don’t always feel the same as others feel about their work.”
― Roy Ayers
“A visual image in the hand of an artist is merely a tool to trigger a mental image.”
― Roy H. Williams
“The importance of art is in the process of doing it, in the learning experience where the artist interacts with whatever is being made.”
― Roy Lichtenstein
“You know, Simon he’s an artist representative, but Randy and Paula actually were in the industry as artists so they had, you know, the information that they offered to us from their aspect.”
― Ruben Studdard
“The artist who gave me the most inspiration and direction, especially as a singer – and I absolutely consider myself a singer, 100 percent – is Nina Simone. She’s my ultimate pianist-singer-type person.”
― Rufus Wainwright
“As an artist, you put so much into what you do and it can all be torn down in a nanosecond.”
― Rufus Wainwright
“I am an artist, and I have a lot more to offer than just being a one-dimensional character, and I think our audience sees that and understands that – they’re behind it.”
― Rusev
“The thing is, about a character, it’s not about being right, it’s about the truth. The truth comes from within, so you have to search as an artist for the truth.”
― Russell Hornsby
“I never knew I was an artist until I did ‘Last of the Mohicans’.”
― Russell Means
“There is actually no such thing as an Artist type. ‘Artist’ is just an economic designation, a box you tick on a form. We are all people, and we are all creative.”
― Russell Smith
“Presently, I really admire Rebecca Warren, the artist. She continues to keep creating wonderful sculpture. And I met her, and she is really cool.”
― Russell Tovey
“An artist is not special. An artist is an ordinary person who can take ordinary things and make them special.”
― Ruth Asawa
“An artist looks at a juice bottle, an egg carton, or a newspaper and sees something valuable in them.”
― Ruth Asawa
“I think as a writer, as an artist, I’ve grown a lot.”
― Ruth B
“I understood the craft of photography when done by an artist is art.”
― Ruth Bernhard
“When I was young, anywhere I would go in Germany, I would see my father’s posters. Everyone knew about him. And he had many friends who were artists who were also quite famous. So, for me, it seemed very natural to be an artist and be known.”
― Ruth Bernhard
“I’m no snapshot artist. I make very careful choices always, even if I’m using a 35mm camera.”
― Ruth Bernhard
“History is written by the winners. My job as an artist is to speak up for those who might be perceived as the losers. Or those who can’t shout.”
― Ruth Negga
“I like characters who are larger-than-life, whether life-loving women or the artist or guru who grabs everything. But I don’t live among people like that.”
― Ruth Prawer Jhabvala
“When I got into high school, my favorite artist was definitely Janet Jackson.”
― Rutina Wesley
“The first song I ever had recorded by another artist was a song called ‘Surefire Feeling’ by Jake Owen.”
― Ryan Hurd
“It might seem difficult to separate my artist and my writing career, but for me, it’s just music.”
― Ryan Hurd
“Everyone sort of has that voice of self-doubt in their head, but as an artist, you relinquish your right to have that voice.”
― Ryan McCartan
“Part of being an artist is being able to write about the world you live in and the times that you’ve been a part of.”
― Ryan Murphy
“I lean into fear because I feel like that excites me as an artist.”
― Ryan Murphy
“An artist’s initial broad stroke is always most impactful, and obsessively adding layer upon layer of paint to fill in details often diminishes the painting’s aura. When an aura is lost, it is impossible to get back.”
― Ryuichi Sakamoto
“A film has to be for commercial success as well as earn you respect as an artist. You don’t want to do only things that are designed to run commercially, and neither do you want to do things that get acclaim but don’t run.”
― Saif Ali Khan
“As an artist, I write and I do what I know and what creatively comes out of me, and I think that other artists should do the same thing.”
― Salim Akil
“When you look at your life as an artist, you do see that when you get to be 60, you’re coming – this is the last chapter.”
― Sally Mann
“The miniatures of the Mughal period are really the pinnacle of Indian artistic achievement. And not a single one of those paintings is done by an individual artist.”
― Salman Rushdie
“What distinguishes a great artist from a weak one is first their sensibility and tenderness; second, their imagination, and third, their industry.”
― Salman Rushdie
“In television, the 60-minute series, ‘The Wire’ and ‘Mad Men’ and so on, the writer is the primary creative artist.”
― Salman Rushdie
“My mum is an artist. I guess that helps; she’s very supportive.”
― Sam Heughan
“I get really self-conscious about people staring at me. It sounds so weird. As a performer, as an artist, these should be the things that I’m used to. But that’s not the case. When people stare at me, I freak out.”
― Sam Smith
“I often joke that I straddle psychosis and neurosis, and that being an artist keeps me in the middle, so I can work between the two.”
― Sam Taylor-Johnson
“I wanted to become an artist because it meant endless possibilities. Art was a way of reinventing myself.”
― Sam Taylor-Johnson
“Everything that Eddie has said about me is the total opposite of what really happened. Eddie says I wanted to be a solo artist. No, Eddie wanted to be a solo artist.”
― Sammy Hagar
“I think martial arts, in general, shaped my wrestling style. I think I grew up as a martial artist as a kid.”
― Samoa Joe
“Mike Mulipola is a fantastic artist.”
― Samoa Joe
“To find a form that accommodates the mess, that is the task of the artist now.”
― Samuel Beckett
“I get paid all day, every day, which is almost too much for a sensitive artist.”
― Samuel L. Jackson
“So I don’t think of myself as just a musician at all, I think of myself as an artist.”
― Santigold
“Elton John is a huge influence and an artist I’ve listened to since I was a little girl.”
― Sara Bareilles
“I’ve learned a lot with every character, everything from being a cop, to a lawyer to a tattoo artist. And underneath that stuff, I’ve been really able to find myself through the characters. It’s served as a cheap form of emotional therapy.”
― Sarah Shahi
“I’m growing as an artist and expanding my range, and not pigeonholing myself by doing the same thing, over and over.”
― Sarah Wayne Callies
“The ‘Vampire of Ropraz’ claims to be based on a true story, but the name of Rosa’s father matches that of a notable Swiss artist and restorer. The eventual suspect has the overlong teeth and shambling menace of a would-be vampire, but Chessex leaves the real possibility of his guilt an open question.”
― Sarah Weinman
“Any artist should be grateful for a naive grace which puts him beyond the need to reason elaborately.”
― Saul Bellow
“I think people got this idea that I wanted to be a star. Managers of the past don’t have any kind of public persona – it’s all about the fame of the artist. I really don’t want to be a star. I just want to have a platform.”
― Scooter Braun
“When you break an artist, you learn a lot.”
― Scott Borchetta
“I was a scam artist in high school for a while.”
― Scott Caan
“I grew up as a martial artist, and I’m still a martial artist at heart.”
― Scott Coker
“I want a performance style that’s more cerebral and emotional than physical. I want to be a creative artist, not a whirling dervish.”
― Scott Weiland
“I don’t think an artist should keep themselves categorized in a specific box.”
― Sean Kingston
“Putting out commercial pieces and promoting them and trying to sell them to people is not necessarily what it means to be an artist.”
― Sean Lennon
“I was the only one to go to university, and the last thing my dad wanted was for me to be an artist. But later on, when I bought him a house in the south of Spain, he thought it was all right then.”
― Sean Scully
“I probably use more grays than any other artist in the history of art.”
― Sean Scully
“Being a cover artist is not like being a real artist. That’s just copying what someone else did.”
― Sebastian Bach
“An artist has to go to every extreme, to stretch his sensibility through excess and suffering in order to feel and to communicate more.”
― Sebastian Horsley
“My stepfather was in the navy, so I got to know a side of Chile that is not what you would expect from an artist.”
― Sebastian Lelio
“I have a more direct avenue to expression as an artist than I ever would as a politician.”
― Serj Tankian
“I think music is a powerful medium because it co-inspires. It inspires the artist who then inspires the listener, and it’s a back-and-forth process.”
― Serj Tankian
“I had – I was pretty hell bent on getting into the cartoon business specifically as an artist from the get-go.”
― Seth MacFarlane
“I swear I pick up little gems from every artist that I work with. That’s why I’m so appreciative that I’ve been able to be a songwriter first.”
― Sevyn Streeter
“I have mixed feelings about Napster. I like what it can do for an unsigned band. It can help them sell 10,000 records. But for an established artist, there’s already so much piracy around. They need to regulate it.”
― Shaggy
“I’ve been criticized for doing so – crossover music. But I never claimed to be a pure dancehall artist.”
― Shaggy
“My thing is to get people out of the stigma of what a reggae artist should be like.”
― Shaggy
“Not to be boxed in, to be able to transcend boundaries: for an artist, it’s essential.”
― Shahzia Sikander
“My videos represent the artist in me very well, but not the kind of woman I am.”
― Shakira
“Songwriting is such an intricate part of me as an artist and as a person; I couldn’t just let someone else do it.”
― Shakira
“Everything I do, I put my full heart into. I don’t want to be just another actor, another singer, another artist. I want to invent history.”
― Shameik Moore
“An artist must be open to both appreciation and criticism. It’s a part of the learning process, or else there is no growth.”
― Shankar Mahadevan
“Above all, Danny Boyle’s ‘Slumdog Millionaire’ is the work of an artist at the peak of his powers. India is his palette, and Mumbai – that teeming ‘maximum city’, with 19 million strivers on the make, jostling, scheming, struggling and killing for success – is his brush.”
― Shashi Tharoor
“From their ’61 Cavern Club debut to their last rooftop concert eight years later, The Beatles gave every serious artist in their wake the songbook and sound for their career. It’s the musical trough from which nearly every musician drinks.”
― Shawn Amos
“When I became sober, I was 27 and struggling as an artist.”
― Shawn Colvin
“I’m not a go-out-with-a-band artist. I’m an intimate, storytelling folk artist. It guides the writing and makes for a concert that I’m proud of.”
― Shawn Colvin
“When I put that first Vine out, I was just doing it for fun; there was no wanting to become an artist.”
― Shawn Mendes
“Definitely, it’s hard being a young artist and being taken seriously.”
― Shawn Mendes
“Training with Billy Robinson is just like any martial artist who would go to the old master of the art. He’s so knowledgeable.”
― Shayna Baszler
“I’m a contemporary artist with a bit of an unexpected background. I was in my 20s before I ever went to an art museum. I grew up in the middle of nowhere on a dirt road in rural Arkansas, an hour from the nearest movie theater.”
― Shea Hembrey
“I like the idea that paintings are not representations of an artist’s psyche. Making the paintings is what gives the artist her psyche in the first place.”
― Shea Hembrey
“I think that an artist should be a skilled craftsman.”
― Shea Hembrey
“I’m an artist; I’m not a rapper.”
― Sheck Wes
“I’m definitely a pop artist at heart.”
― Sheena Easton
“An artist’s love for what they create is what creates love.”
― Sheila Heti
“I’ve never really considered myself just a street artist. I consider myself a populist.”
― Shepard Fairey
“I consider myself a multi-platform artist – not just a street artist – but the audience I found through street art has created many of the opportunities I now have on other platforms.”
― Shepard Fairey
“I’m an actor, but I’m an artist.”
― Shia LaBeouf
“No artist from my industry has ever supported me, but all technicians have been on my side.”
― Shilpa Shinde
“With Michael Jackson, when he moved, it looked like a martial artist to me. He was quicker than other dancers, but he didn’t have muscles; he was just quicker and looked more in control of gravity. He looked like a martial arts master, so I tried to steal body movement from him; that’s why I imitate Michael Jackson a little bit.”
― Shinsuke Nakamura
“I’m an artist, I’m not an activist.”
― Shirin Neshat
“There’s a great difference between being popular and being an artist.”
― Shirley Knight
“I’m an artist, therefore I think I am sensitive to human pain.”
― Shirley MacLaine
“Maybe I’m a dream artist, as they call it.”
― Shirley MacLaine
“When have you ever heard of a cantor or any artist turning anyone down when he is strongly urged to perform?”
― Sholom Aleichem
“I think the first older artist I related to and loved was Bowie.”
― Shooter Jennings
“I want to be a pan-India artist.”
― Shruti Haasan
“As an artist, when you make something, you want the world to see it in its totality, especially when the intention is not to titillate.”
― Shweta Tripathi
“I am also a voice over artist, so I always like to dub myself.”
― Shweta Tripathi
“As an artist, I want to explore as much as I can.”
― Shweta Tripathi
“Knowing now what goes into making a successful artist, it’s disheartening.”
― Sia
“My primary goal is to be a solo artist releasing original music.”
― Sid Sriram
“As for an authentic villain, the real thing, the absolute, the artist, one rarely meets him even once in a lifetime. The ordinary bad hat is always in part a decent fellow.”
― Sidonie Gabrielle Colette
“I understand popular entertainment better than anyone. I want to have the world’s No. 1 tennis player, the hottest movie, the biggest artist.”
― Simon Fuller
“If you’re a musician and an artist, you don’t just stop.”
― Siobhan Fahey
“Yeah, I put out some goofy stuff. I had no idea who I was as an artist at all before ‘Posse on Broadway.’”
― Sir Mix-a-Lot
“I love making up visual works of art in language. I get to be an artist without actually being an artist in that sense.”
― Siri Hustvedt
“I knew I wanted to be a writer at 13. Before that, I told everyone I was going to be an artist.”
― Siri Hustvedt
“I’ve always wanted to make that change from a rapper into an artist.”
― Ski Mask the Slump God
“One thing that I do want to say is Drake, as an artist, anybody has to respect him. He’s in the game, and he’s been in the game – he has longevity, even if he doesn’t write or writes his music.”
― Ski Mask the Slump God
“Putting out a debut album is a bit scary – I want it to be just right, so I took some extra time to finish it. Eminem’s increased involvement has been such a blessing; I’m getting guidance from an artist I really admire and trust.”
― Skylar Grey
“I’m hoping to become a recording artist and make albums and go on tour.”
― Skylar Laine
“Once you’re a Motown artist, you’re always a Motown artist.”
― Smokey Robinson
“People still look at Michael Jackson as being a Motown artist.”
― Smokey Robinson
“Once you’re a Motown artist, that’s your stigmatism, and I was there from the very first day.”
― Smokey Robinson
“If they’re not temperamental, I don’t want them. It’s in the nature of a great artist to be that way.”
― Sol Hurok
“I believe that the artist’s involvement in the capitalist structure is disadvantageous to the artist and forces him to produce objects in order to live.”
― Sol LeWitt
“The artist is seen like a producer of commodities, like a factory that turns our refrigerators.”
― Sol LeWitt
“In my experience, as a young black artist, you have to fulfill an archetype, or be a token – and I was unwilling to do that.”
― Solange Knowles
“Every teenage artist out there is mostly talking about boys, and I think there’s so much more to being a teenager than just boys.”
― Solange Knowles
“You just have to know that the more successful you get as an artist, the less of a normal life you have. It’s a trade-off.”
― Solange Knowles
“A lot of people don’t know me as an artist.”
― Solange Knowles
“Whoever is in charge of the artist will always have the upper hand. They act like it’s the artists’ world, but it’s the other way around, so they’re going to do whatever they want to do.”
― Sonny Sandoval
“My first job was as a sandwich artist at Subway.”
― Sophia Amoruso
“Swag defines an artist, period. Lil Wayne has his super-tattooed pierces and dreads swag. Jay-Z has his New York, grown man, Beyonce and 40/40 Club swag.”
― Soulja Boy
“I had great memories as a child artist.”
― Sridevi
“I have not done much as an actor. There is no end for an artist, and my best is yet to come.”
― Sridevi
“The reason I decided to become a solo artist in the first place was because I always felt that the results that I got from working as a team where everyone had equal say… ended up with compromised, watered-down results.”
― St. Lucia
“The much-lauded visual artist Roni Horn got her Master’s in Sculpture from Yale in the Seventies, but in the course of her career she has moved, among other media, from watercolors to photographs to floor-sized installations and mats of poured gold.”
― Stacey D’Erasmo
“Alex Gross is an L.A. artist who has become a friend. His work is really compelling.”
― Stana Katic
“I wanted to be an architect, an artist, or an actor.”
― Stanley Tucci
“I get mad if I’m not presented as an actual artist on tour. I don’t want to be seen as just some DJ that plays between sets. I have a bigger brand than that.”
― Statik Selektah
“When you’re doing so much, there’s so much on your mind. The bigger the artist you become, you have to think a lot more. I’m trying not to overthink everything!”
― Stefflon Don
“I want to be more than just an artist and be a people’s person and do a lot of stuff for people.”
― Stefflon Don
“To get syndicated as a comic strip artist is as likely as winning the lottery.”
― Stephan Pastis
“I’m 47 years old. I couldn’t compete with Beyonce. I’m not competing with anyone. I’ve already established myself as an artist. I’ve been in this business for 30 years. There’s no reason for me to compete with anyone.”
― Stephanie Mills
“As an artist, you have to do what you feel passionate about. It has to be something you can connect with.”
― Stephanie Sigman
“Who isn’t difficult? I’m difficult as an artist.”
― Stephanie Sigman
“I was planning on being a starving artist.”
― Stephen Hillenburg
“An artist cannot be responsible for what people make of their art. An audience loathe giving up preconceived images of an artist.”
― Stephen Stills
“It betrays hubris on the part of the artist to think his medium is limiting him, and I think we all recognize this.”
― Steve Albini
“Artists are creating their own genre sound, and other artists are building upon that sound and already creating a huge subculture created around one particular sound created by one artist. So, with all that happening, the genres are going to break down, and there’s going to be a multitude of sound coming out.”
― Steve Aoki
“A lot of my building blocks – who I am kind of as an artist – all came from being in L.A.”
― Steve Aoki
“Artists have so much more control of their futures – they don’t need to rely so much on major labels or big companies to help them. You have artists like Skrillex that can dominate so much that he gets 5 Grammy nominees, and he’s clearly an underground artist.”
― Steve Aoki
“My philosophy is that I’m an artist. I perform an art not with a paint brush or a camera. I perform with bodily movement. Instead of exhibiting my art in a museum or a book or on canvas, I exhibit my art in front of the multitudes.”
― Steve Prefontaine
“The importance of an artist is bringing new signs into a language.”
― Steve Sabol
“Artists and the traditional record company model are at odds. The music business has notoriously taken from the artist. That shouldn’t be the narrative.”
― Steve Stoute
“It’s very important that an artist’s job is to be a great artist.”
― Steve Stoute
“Nas is an artist who writes from his heart.”
― Steve Stoute
“I have an independent record label called Favored Nations on which I released an album by an artist called Johnny A, who plays an arch top Gibson through a Marshall, but the tone is all in his fingers.”
― Steve Vai
“Computer technology is so built into our lives that it’s part of the surround of every artist.”
― Steven Levy
“I love creating images, of course, because I’m an artist.”
― Steven Rodney McQueen
“Any great warrior is also a scholar, and a poet, and an artist.”
― Steven Seagal
“I was 100 percent political in the ’80s – the first time around, let’s call it, my first life as an artist.”
― Steven Van Zandt
“Some musicians feel they have to provide what their audiences expect. They lose the distinction between an artist and an entertainer. I am not an entertainer.”
― Steven Wilson
“I never claimed to be a generic artist, period. I never wanted to be a generic artist.”
― Steven Wilson
“I wear glasses and suits, so I guess I am an indie artist.”
― Stevie Jackson
“When I was younger I thought I was an artist, and inspiration would just come to me.”
― Stockard Channing
“Bruce Lee was an artist and, like him, I try to go beyond the fundamentals of my sport. I want the public to see a knockout in the making.”
― Sugar Ray Leonard
“David Gulden captures animals in all their wonder and intrigue, without glorifying or romanticizing them. He knows Kenya’s wildlife intimately, and it shows in the depth of his images. He has an artist’s eye, which delivers beauty and transport in every picture.”
― Susan Minot
“Making social comment is an artificial place for an artist to start from. If an artist is touched by some social condition, what the artist creates will reflect that, but you can’t force it.”
― Susan Sontag
“As traditions of mourning wane, women’s role as designated mourners has also vanished. In consequence, the woman elegist must summon her own resources as an artist.”
― Susan Stewart
“I think possibly, as an artist, you’re always treated with a certain respect but also with a certain sort of nervousness.”
― Susanne Bier
“Like a bathroom singer, I am a closet artist, but you need time to paint.”
― Sushmita Sen
“I don’t know what else I would do. I love entertaining people, I love communicating, I love an audience. I’m a real artist, right from the bottom of my toes to the top of my head.”
― Suzi Quatro
“I’ve always seen myself as sort of this funky, eclectic artist.”
― Suzy Bogguss
“It’s like Willie Nelson. You’re an artist and you have different styles inside of you.”
― Suzy Bogguss
“I started off as a graffiti artist in the South Bronx. My tag name was ‘Loco’ because I would go crazy and tag anywhere I wanted, in the weirdest places.”
― Swizz Beatz
“I believe an artist dies twice. The first time, it’s just terrible – I’ve been there when the phone isn’t ringing for years.”
― Sylvester Stallone
“When a real artist creates something, it has to be a necessity, the only way he can say something.”
― Sylvie Guillem
“You want, as an artist, to be pushing yourself to do what you haven’t done before.”
― T. C. Boyle
“I think R. Kelly’s range is so vast and broad that in order to stimulate himself creatively as an artist, he has to step so, so far outside the box, or else he feels like he’s not challenging himself.”
― T.I.
“The progress of an artist is a continual self-sacrifice, a continual extinction of personality.”
― T. S. Eliot
“Not every person can be an artist: we need people to run stuff.”
― Taika Waititi
“I see myself as a composer who plays music and likes to play with other people, and not just as a solo artist.”
― Taj Mahal
“When people tell me I’m an artist, I say, ‘What?’ It’s impossible for me to take the idea seriously.”
― Takeshi Kitano
“I want to be a female artist who is honest. I want to encourage other girls to be honest with who they are and not try to be picture perfect, because it’s a woman’s imperfections that make her perfect anyway.”
― Tali Lennox
“But it becomes disrespectful when the artist’s process is not respected.”
― Talib Kweli
“Being called a conscious rapper is quite a compliment. It’s a great thing to be. But as an artist, my nature is to not be in a box.”
― Talib Kweli
“The responsibility of an artist is to be honest with themselves.”
― Talib Kweli
“I’m not an artist that has a big, huge radio record that’s going to be on BET.”
― Talib Kweli
“I tour whether I have album out or not. I tour more than any other hip-hop artist.”
― Talib Kweli
“It’s a constant quest to push the bar and work in films that allow me to prove what I can do as an artist.”
― Tamannaah
“It’s valuable to me as an artist and actor to explore all kinds of outlets. So if a local filmmaker in Milwaukee had a good story, I’d be part of it in a second.”
― Tanya Fischer
“When you’re a starving artist, you make do. It didn’t matter that I didn’t know where my rent was coming from.”
― Tanya Saracho
“I don’t have specific music for when I’m writing. I’m usually listening to the same playlist or ‘artist’ before I arrive at the computer as when I’m walking somewhere after leaving the computer.”
― Tao Lin
“I am not a genre-based artist.”
― Tash Sultana
“’American Idol,’ for me, is fizzling out. They can’t package me, man… I’m an artist that’s created this concept but used the ‘American Idol’ machine as a marketing tool.”
― Taylor Hicks
“I’m an artist; I’m not going to use trigonometry.”
― Taylor Momsen
“I leave the genre labeling to other people. I really do. If I were to think too hard about it, that would stifle you creatively. If you think too hard about who other people want you to be as an artist, it stops you from being who you want to be as an artist.”
― Taylor Swift
“I’ve always been an elite artist.”
― Tech N9ne
“We were thrilled when we were nominated for best new artist at the Grammys, but we were even more so when they asked us to play live.”
― Ted Dwane
“I started out as an artist, but I’ve always wanted to be a writer and producer.”
― Teddy Geiger
“I try to keep my ear to the streets without sacrificing who I am as an artist. If a song needs a drum machine I’ll use a drum machine. If it needs a drummer, I’ll use a real drummer.”
― Teena Marie
“Luxury is the wolf at the door and its fangs are the vanities and conceits germinated by success. When an artist learns this, he knows where the danger is.”
― Tennessee Williams
“Usually, the extras have a different mentality. I had the mentality of an artist, because I was a ‘ballet-rina.’ But most extras are out to make a fast buck for nothing. They’re ‘atmosphere.’”
― Teri Garr
“Every one of us is an artist, and as an artist, you really can stroll into any venue that you want, as long as you take your time to learn the etiquette of that venue.”
― Terrence Howard
“Every artist has to grow, and has to challenge themselves with a new form of expression.”
― Terrence Howard
“The reason that I’m an actor, or an artist, is ultimately because I’m trying to paint a self-portrait, and the most complete and beautiful self-portrait that you can.”
― Terrence Howard
“I think I’ve grown a lot in the last few years, and I needed to express myself as an artist on this. It wasn’t necessarily about going in and making an album chocked full of hit singles… there were a lot of things I did out of the joy and the want to do it.”
― Terri Clark
“Read the folklore masters. Go to galleries. Walk in the woods. That’s what you need to be an artist or storyteller.”
― Terri Windling
“I’m an artist, I’m not an academic folklorist.”
― Terri Windling
“A critic is not a creative artist, is a commenter, a midwife of creativity, but not creative himself.”
― Terry Teachout
“Ai Weiwei, who is both a widely admired conceptual artist and a fearless human-rights activist, has been on the bad side of the Chinese government for years.”
― Terry Teachout
“Life usually tells the best stories – but sometimes it takes an artist to show us what they mean.”
― Terry Teachout
“As an independent artist, you’re always figuring out how you’re going to fund your next album.”
― Tess Henley
“I’m a huge fan of R. Kelly’s. He’s a musical genius and probably the most prolific artist of the generation before mine.”
― The Weeknd
“The whole ‘enigmatic artist’ thing, I just ran with it.”
― The Weeknd
“If you ever see young artists, and they’re not sounding good, they sound good. They’re good singers. They wouldn’t be where they are if they didn’t sound good. It’s their nerves. Any time you see your favorite artist, and he’s or she’s screwing up or not hitting those notes, it’s not because she can’t hit it or she can’t sing; he or she is scared.”
― The Weeknd
“As an artist I have an even more abiding interest in the compact between the Arts and Government.”
― Theodore Bikel
“But, when I toil in the field of Jewish culture which I frequently do, I am indeed a Jewish artist.”
― Theodore Bikel
“Any man who does not have his inner world to translate is not an artist.”
― Theophile Gautier
“I have many musical inspirations, but I would really love to just be me. My very own artist.”
― Thia Megia
“In the future, I see me as being my own artist and definitely not a ballad singer!”
― Thia Megia
“The test of the artist does not lie in the will with which he goes to work, but in the excellence of the work he produces.”
― Thomas Aquinas
“The big artist keeps an eye on nature and steals her tools.”
― Thomas Eakins
“I’ve decided to do what I want to do in life and follow my own path as an artist, so I’ve decided not to participate in any sort of nostalgia in which I’m marginalized as a pop icon of yesteryear.”
― Thomas F. Wilson
“Frost is the greatest artist in our clime – he paints in nature and describes in rime.”
― Thomas Hood
“The concept that an artist would be revered by popular culture is an immediate dismissal of his relevance as an artist.”
― Thomas Kinkade
“The whole Modernist lie is that art is about the artist.”
― Thomas Kinkade
“The disintegration of the culture starts with the artist. I’m on a crusade to turn the tide in the arts, to restore dignity to the arts and, by extension, to the culture.”
― Thomas Kinkade
“I think every artist needs a rule that’s stupid but that helps him, like a deadline would.”
― Thomas Mars
“All my artist buddies make fun of me for being such a sensitive human being.”
― Thomas Rhett
“I would say that all the singles that I have put out are collectively just a small piece of the artist that Thomas Rhett wants to be.”
― Thomas Rhett
“I think, for every artist, the second album is the most terrifying one to put out because it can either boost your career, and everybody can’t wait until your third album, or the second one is terrible, and ‘He probably hit a plateau on his first one.’”
― Thomas Rhett
“Neymar is my key player. One of the world’s best. He is also an artist.”
― Thomas Tuchel
“To be honest, I’m selfish as an artist. I’m doing what I want to do and what I want to hear.”
― Tierra Whack
“I just call myself an artist, really.”
― Tierra Whack
“I think the real exciting part about becoming a solo artist is that you get to really decide on what your new sound and what your new message will be.”
― Tiffany Hwang
“As I grew older, I realised that Bruce Lee was an actor first and a martial artist second. If he wasn’t a convincing actor and didn’t have the emotion in his eyes before delivering a kick or a punch, it wouldn’t have made that much of an impact.”
― Tiger Shroff
“As for Aamir Khan, he keeps raising the standard with every film. For an artist like me or a newcomer like me, we can only look up to that and dream, ‘When will that be us someday?’ There’s so much to learn from him. He is the encyclopedia of acting.”
― Tiger Shroff
“I love doing logos. I’ve been a graphic artist all my life.”
― Tim Allen
“I’m on a mission to make people aware that I’m not a solo artist. I’m sometimes challenged by the branding of Tim Crouch.”
― Tim Crouch
“I never have thought of myself as a brand. I’ve thought of myself as an artist.”
― Tim Daly
“An artist don’t make you bigger than life – being that person that can break artists can make you bigger than life.”
― Timbaland
“David is purely a conceptual artist. He didn’t play any instruments or paint or anything. We were painters.”
― Tina Weymouth
“There was never really a Plan B for me – I always wanted to be a music artist.”
― Tinashe
“I’m not going to be the artist that talks about a million dollar whip and ‘I just bought some red bottoms.’ That’s cool, but that’s not all there is to it. I’d rather talk about something everyone can relate to and feel.”
― Tink
“Coming up as a female rapper – well, a female artist in general – everything is just so black and white.”
― Tink
“For me, having walked through Times Square so many times as a broke and starving artist, as a TV star, and now having other hopes and dreams, it just represents possibility and the moment of full circle.”
― Tituss Burgess
“Often times, if you’re a bit of a crossover artist, audiences see you as only one thing.”
― Tituss Burgess
“I think that it’s crucial. I think that playing live, if you want to be an artist – that’s what artists do.”
― Tobias Forge
“If we see someone, an artist who just does magnificent art, and especially if they’re already doing Ghost-related art, we just reach out and start collaborating. But when it comes to the record sleeves and the tour posters, I’m usually quite particular.”
― Tobias Forge
“The prosthetics were interesting because the artist was so good that they could just put a Hitchcock mask on me, but you don’t want to do that. You’re an actor playing Hitchcock, so it’s about how much of that you’re going to do.”
― Toby Jones
“I think when I was about 6 or 7, I would have said I wanted to be an actor and an artist.”
― Todd Haynes
“The problem turned out to be that I never was that kind of an artist.”
― Todd Rundgren
“So there was a way for you to get promoted and survive as an artist without worrying about AM radio hits.”
― Todd Rundgren
“I didn’t expect to become an artist. I was not comfortable going out on the road.”
― Todd Rundgren
“If I have an opportunity to do something safe or something challenging, I’ll often choose the latter. Sometimes, the objective is to submerge my viewpoint with the artist.”
― Todd Rundgren
“My company created a platform called Modlife, this prepackaged website that runs an artist’s website.”
― Tom DeLonge
“As a fashion designer, I was always aware that I was not an artist, because I was creating something that was made to be sold, marketed, used, and ultimately discarded.”
― Tom Ford
“That’s my whole point as an artist – I’m trying to get you to turn a page.”
― Tom King
“Is the biographer an artist who can and should exist on equal terms with the dramatist, fiction writer and poet? The short and robust answer is, ‘Certainly not.’”
― Tom Paulin
“I’ve sort of decided that I can settle for being just the artist, arranger, writer and part-time engineer. That seems like enough to do.”
― Tom Scholz
“I would like to be a great artist. I would quit pitching if I could paint like Monet or Rousseau. But I can’t. What I can do is pitch, and I can do that very well.”
― Tom Seaver
“This is the artist, then, life’s hungry man, the glutton of eternity, beauty’s miser, glory’s slave.”
― Tom Wolfe
“I feel like I have the greatest life an artist could dream of.”
― Tommy Shaw
“As a solo artist, I just felt cemented in front of the mike stand. There was very little time to play with the audience and be a band member.”
― Tommy Shaw
“I was a 10 million-plus selling artist.”
― Toni Braxton
“For our Spring 2015 collection, I was inspired by the spirit of the artist Francoise Gilot.”
― Tory Burch
“I’m not a singer. I’m not an R&B singer. I’m an artist.”
― Tory Lanez
“The fact is, when you date an artist, you have to know that they’re going to sing about you.”
― Tove Lo
“I find it really cool when people have this artist persona they can put on. They can go out and act like this other person; I can’t pull that off… I can’t censor myself.”
― Tove Lo
“For a while, I was nervous about portraying women because of the objectification that automatically comes with it, whether the artist intends or not.”
― Toyin Odutola
“Being a black artist, the first thing people want to talk about is your blackness, the importance of your blackness, and your black presence.”
― Toyin Odutola
“I felt like ‘Owl Pharoah,’ not everyone understood who I was as an artist.”
― Travis Scott
“My work ethic is crazy. I’m a producer, an artist, and a video director.”
― Travis Scott
“I’m an artist. I produce, I direct, and all of that goes into the music.”
― Travis Scott
“I see hip-hop as going in a self-managing place. It’s very culturally controlled and artist-controlled. It’s not really based on a label anymore. Everything is pretty much in the control of the artist. Which is amazing.”
― Travis Scott
“I consider myself an artist, which is, like, the most played term, but I believe it.”
― Travis Scott
“Producers don’t really have any authority because you are paid by the artist, and if they choose to ignore you, they can. Your power only hangs by the tiniest thread. If you pull it too hard it will snap.”
― Trevor Horn
“For me, one of the jobs of an artist is to try to see changes taking place.”
― Trevor Paglen
“My favorite artist was probably Jay-Z. He’s the one who inspired me to start writing music. He’s a wordsmith. He’s very clever. He uses a lot of similes and metaphors. He’s a beast of a rapper.”
― Trip Lee
“You want to sell records, but if you want to call yourself an artist, your job is how you express yourself.”
― Trisha Yearwood
“If you’re a painter, you don’t go, ‘Abstract’s really selling, so that’s what I’m going to do.’ If you’re really truly an artist, you have to think what you’re meant to paint.”
― Trisha Yearwood
“I’m an artist who happens to be in drag. And I think that’s why my drag is a little different.”
― Trixie Mattel
“The way it works is the manager’s sort of, you know, is like the hub of an artist’s career.”
― Troy Carter
“On the artist side, we made a significant investment in very young artists from the very beginning of their careers and helped them become global superstars.”
― Troy Carter
“She was a performance artist calling herself Lady Gaga, who had a European dance-club sound and pop-star aspirations – elements that historically haven’t mixed.”
― Troy Carter
“It’s really empowering when, as an artist, you can visualize something and then have the final product turn out the way you wanted it to.”
― Troye Sivan
“I don’t want to compare myself to Picasso, but he had four or five periods in his life. Any good artist grows and changes and matures.”
― Tucker Max
“I couldn’t be an artist who was told what to do, what to be, what to sing.”
― Tulisa
“I think it’s important for every artist to have that ballad that stands the test of time.”
― Tulisa
“The frustrating part of being an artist is that I can do a whole interview, and all most people are going to see is the headlines. As artists, we should be able to write our own headlines.”
― Tyga
“I think, as an artist, part of your job is being aware of what’s going on around you and not selling out and not following the trend, which I’m totally against.”
― Tyler Farr
“Every artist has a moment where they think about quitting music for a moment because it’s scary.”
― Tyler Farr
“I’m not an artist. I set the camera up and tell my story.”
― Tyler Perry
“I talk about the gods, I am an atheist. But I am an artist too, and therefore a liar. Distrust everything I say. I am telling the truth.”
― Ursula K. Le Guin
“The artist deals in what cannot be said in words. The artist whose medium is fiction does this in words. The novelist says in words what cannot be said in words.”
― Ursula K. Le Guin
“I want to be an artist… an actor who acts really well.”
― Urvashi Rautela
“You can’t be an artist while you’re producing, because you’ll be over-critiquing the producer part.”
― Valee
“An artist can be truly evaluated only after he is dead. At the very 11th hour, he might do something that will eclipse everything else.”
― Van Cliburn
“All the time I’m changing as an artist and as a person.”
― Vanessa Mae
“I fight for the debunking of the artist and an end to individual pictures.”
― Victor Vasarely
“I like to make the best of what I have. I’m not a supermodel, clearly. I’m not a makeup artist. I’m a real woman.”
― Victoria Beckham
“Someone’s career that I admire would have to be Justin Timberlake’s because he started off on Disney and he made this huge film career and huge solo music career. I really respect him as an artist.”
― Victoria Justice
“When I land in a country and they ask for ‘occupation,’ I always just put ‘artist.’ I think that covers all of it.”
― Viggo Mortensen
“As an artist, all I want is to be a part of good films.”
― Vijay Sethupathi
“I am an artist who is ready to grab interesting roles that comes my way.”
― Vijay Sethupathi
“In a painting, you can’t make out whether the artist painted the left eye before the right eye. In Chinese calligraphy, you can see the progression of the artist’s stroke.”
― Vikram Seth
“As an artist, I can’t be responsible for how people interpret material.”
― Vince Vaughn
“An artist needn’t be a clergyman or a churchwarden, but he certainly must have a warm heart for his fellow men.”
― Vincent Van Gogh
“I think my original ambition was to be an artist.”
― Virgil Abloh
“Pyrex Vision’s first season was, for me, an expression of myself as an artist first, designer second.”
― Virgil Abloh
“It is the nature of the artist to mind excessively what is said about him. Literature is strewn with the wreckage of men who have minded beyond reason the opinions of others.”
― Virginia Woolf
“For us chess players the language of artist is something natural.”
― Vladimir Kramnik
“Of all possible subjects, travel is the most difficult for an artist, as it is the easiest for a journalist.”
― W. H. Auden
“Every production of an artist should be the expression of an adventure of his soul.”
― W. Somerset Maugham
“The artist is the consciousness of society… but musicians’ role is very special.”
― Wadada Leo Smith
“You don’t necessarily pick the singles that you want when you’re making a record, but for the most part it’s the same process. You’re the artist – you make the music that you want to make.”
― Wale
“I think every couple should find an artist that they dig together.”
― Walker Hayes
“To the real artist in humanity, what are called bad manners are often the most picturesque and significant of all.”
― Walt Whitman
“If any artist abuses his audience as a means to any end, noble or ignoble, he better have a damn good reason for it.”
― Walter Becker
“Proficiency in a craft is essential to every artist. Therein lies the prime source of creative imagination. Let us then create a new guild of craftsmen without the class distinctions that raise an arrogant barrier between craftsman and artist!”
― Walter Gropius
“Architects, sculptors painters, we all must return to the crafts! For art is not a ‘profession.’ There is no essential difference between the artist and the craftsman. The artist is an exalted craftsman.”
― Walter Gropius
“The mere drawing and painting world of the pattern designer and the applied artist must become a world that builds again.”
― Walter Gropius
“If a band or artist isn’t tweeting or writing posts on Facebook every day, there can be this kind of mystique built about them, and I find myself retreating from the spotlight more and more.”
― Washed Out
“Color is the keyboard, the eyes are the harmonies, the soul is the piano with many strings. The artist is the hand that plays, touching one key or another, to cause vibrations in the soul.”
― Wassily Kandinsky
“The artist must train not only his eye but also his soul.”
― Wassily Kandinsky
“With few exceptions, music has been for some centuries the art which has devoted itself not to the reproduction of natural phenomena, but rather to the expression of the artist’s soul, in musical sound.”
― Wassily Kandinsky
“Chet loved artists. He did. But he was caught up in the system. He had two hats. He had to have ’em because he did two things: he was an artist, and he was an executive.”
― Waylon Jennings
“Unlike a lot of choreographers, I don’t always start with the music. I often start with a visual artist, and then find music that fits the world of that visual artist.”
― Wayne McGregor
“I keep a steady supply of paintbrushes and canvases. I like to paint. I’m not some great artist.”
― Wendy Williams
“Well, I’m an artist to the core. And my objective has always been to use my talents and my skills to elevate humanity through my art.”
― Wesley Snipes
“I chose ‘The Voice’ because I knew they had a lot more respect for each artist, as opposed to the other shows. They don’t get it. I don’t think those shows ever got it. I was turned off by some of the other shows and how they did things.”
― Will Champlin
“As an artist, it’s possible to get tired of yourself.”
― Will Cotton
“Every artist makes himself born. It is very much harder than the other time, and longer.”
― Willa Cather
“An artist is forced by others to paint out of his own free will.”
― Willem de Kooning
“Whatever an artist’s personal feelings are, as soon as an artist fills a certain area on the canvas or circumscribes it, he becomes historical. He acts from or upon other artists.”
― Willem de Kooning
“I wear a lot of different hats – from writer to producer and artist. We all do 5 or 6 jobs, everything from creating our own graphic design to actually recording and the whole bit.”
― William Bell
“The difference between a bad artist and a good one is: the bad artist seems to copy a great deal; the good one really does.”
― William Blake
“It is the artist’s function not to copy but to synthesise: to eliminate from that gross confusion of actuality which is his raw material whatever is accidental, idle, irrelevant, and select for perpetuation that only which is appropriate and immortal.”
― William Ernest Henley
“What is it they want from the man that they didn’t get from the work? What do they expect? What is there left when he’s done with his work, what’s any artist but the dregs of his work, the human shambles that follows it around?”
― William Gaddis
“I have never worked with anyone who I hold in higher esteem than Chris Menges. He’s an absolute, bona fide, authentic artist.”
― William Hurt
“The thing about working with Peter Jackson is that, at the end of the day, he is a passionate artist.”
― William Kircher
“I always dreamt of becoming an artist in Paris. Thanks to the Army, it happened.”
― William Klein
“I always thought I was going to be an artist. I used to draw, and I would read Russian novels until 3 or 4 in the morning.”
― William Klein
“Leger was not only the first artist I ever met but also the first pop artist, and he blew our minds.”
― William Klein
“All any artist can do is please themselves.”
― William Shatner
“This making studies and then taking them home to use them is only half right. You get composition, but you lose freshness; you miss the subtle and, to the artist, the finer characteristics of the scene itself.”
― Winslow Homer
“Every artist picks what they want to put out there, what image they want to portray, and what they want people to know about where they’re from.”
― Wiz Khalifa
“There’s not a hip-hop artist that didn’t snatch of piece of Bob Marley. It’s totally impossible.”
― Wyclef Jean
“I toured with Skrillex, did an HBO commercial with Diplo. In the hip hop movement, I was the first artist Travis Scott ever featured with before he blew up. I had the songs with Chris Brown and Tyga. I’ve worked with some of the biggest artists in the world.”
― Wynter Gordon
“Duke Ellington always had a style: original, clean with interesting color combinations. He had an artist’s eye.”
― Wynton Marsalis
“Instincts are a really important guide for any artist, but particularly filmmakers because it takes a lot to stay true to your instincts as a storyteller.”
― Yance Ford
“Music is art, and once you become an artist, you need to learn how to accept criticism.”
― Yanni
“I have a sense of mission in a way. I’ve always worked on being free, as a woman and as an artist.”
― Yasmine Hamdan
“When I started doing music, it was out of despair and boredom. I got passionate about it, and I felt that it allowed me to become somebody: an artist who explores her different identities.”
― Yasmine Hamdan
“Before I was a cosplayer, I was a fan artist. I would draw my favorite characters and sell the pieces at art auctions. But once I discovered cosplay, it was like, ‘I don’t have to draw my favorite characters, I can become my favorite characters.’”
― Yaya Han
“Every intelligent person, whether he’s an artist or not – a mathematician, a doctor, a scientist – possesses a poetic way of seeing and describing the world.”
― Yehuda Amichai
“You can usually tell when people aren’t being authentic, but that goes for every artist, not just white artists.”
― Yelawolf
“I’m growing as an artist.”
― YG
“I was in a situation where I was a West Coast artist signed to an East Coast label.”
― YG
“I compose for very limited people in Bollywood, as I am not a playback artist. I compose my songs and sing them.”
― Yo Yo Honey Singh
“Everybody’s an artist. Everybody’s God. It’s just that they’re inhibited.”
― Yoko Ono
“I have been known as the minimal and conceptual artist for over five decades. I think I haven’t changed much.”
― Yoko Ono
“I was doing quite well in Malaysia… Everyone was so excited about my music, and they started accepting me as an artist.”
― Yuna
“If it was the ’70s, I’d be a punk artist. I was just born into hip-hop.”
― Yung Lean
“The connection I have with my fans is so important, and I want to break the boundaries and break the barriers between an artist and a crowd. It is so important, and I learn so much through my fans, and they help me.”
― Yungblud
“I wanna be an artist on the whole; I don’t wanna be within a genre.”
― Yungblud
“The hardest part of being an artist is discovering what it is you do differently.”
― Yungblud
“I just tried to be an artist in my own metier.”
― Yves Saint Laurent
“To get to record and to do things with the legends, and with the people that are your musical heroes, that’s the biggest honor as an artist.”
― Zac Brown
“I can draw really well. And I like to paint. I’m a bit of an artist.”
― Zac Efron
“The roots of rap are originally ghetto-ised or extremely working class. So when you’re an artist who’s making something which isn’t how its mainstream appearance should be, there’s always these strange questions of authenticity and what you have to do to be ‘real’ as a rapper.”
― Zadie Smith
“Any artist who aligns themselves with a politician is making a category error because what politicians do is not on a human scale, it is on a geopolitical scale.”
― Zadie Smith
“Some people can’t sing – like honestly – but they’re famous anyway, and they might be famous for being an artist, which is completely different from being a singer.”
― Zara Larsson
“Beyonce’s the only contemporary artist that I really, really idolize.”
― Zara Larsson
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