Jeanette Winterson Quotes

All artists are anarchists in some way - some more extreme than others, but it's something that I think artists are supposed to do. We're supposed to present a different angle on everything, and I certainly think it is [art] as much as poetry, in my opinion.

Think for yourself. Know what you're doing. Question authority.

Art is supposed to spark conversation and make people think.

This is what it is the business of the artist to do. Art is theft, art is armed robbery, art is not pleasing your mother.

That's the real power of art, I think. Not to chide but to provoke challenge. Otherwise why bother?

It is always the task of the intellectual to "think otherwise." This is not just a perverse idiosyncrasy. It is an absolutely essential feature of a society.

I'm not a soldier for anything, either. I'm only a singer and I don't think it makes a difference what we sing.

Now that we do not have priests and philosophers any more, artists are the most important people in the world.

Never accept ultimatums, conventional wisdom, or absolutes.

I want art to make me think. In order to do that, it may piss me off, or make me uncomfortable. That promotes awareness and change, or at least some discussion.

Art is not predictable. Art is not golf, as great as that may be. There are 360 degrees of choice to make.

Mental fight means thinking against the current, not with it. It is our business to puncture gas bags and discover the seeds of truth.

I don't think we ought to base our policy on what the conventional wisdom is.... The conventional wisdom usually is wrong.

My music asks people to think critically, so how can I get upset when people think about me critically?

To be a contrarian, you've got to be a contrarian against your own people.

All I wanted to do was create theater for us, for our generation, for the people of this planet. And it's so rare that the art that you are making is reaching a huge mass of people.

Self-awareness is one of the biggest enemies to creativity.

I will not become analytical about my work.

Use your imaginations, and use your empathy. If you don't do that, you're limiting yourself as an artist, and you're hurting the world.

An artist must be a reactionary. He has to stand out against the tenor of the age and not go flopping along.

Take the risk of thinking for yourself

I really don't think we should dismiss a book because we feel messed about intellectually. Or emotionally. That's the writer's job!

One of the first things I think young people, especially nowadays, should learn is how to see for yourself and listen for yourself and think for yourself. Then you can come to an intelligent decision for yourself. If you form the habit of going by what you hear others say about someone, or going by what others think about someone, instead of searching that thing out for yourself and seeing for yourself, you will be walking west when you think you're going east, and you will be walking east when you think you're going west.

You can’t control what other people think about your art. Think about the part of yourself that you can control, which is your ability to be kind and loving and creative.

The ability to think for one's self depends upon one's mastery of the language.