Annie Lennox Quotes

At the end of the day, I'm an artist. I may make work and decide to do something political, but it will come out of an artist's position. It won't come out of society telling me I have to. If I do, it's because I choose, as an artist, to do it.

When I was doing something on someone else's dime, I was inclined to try to anticipate what they wanted. I knew that wasn't what an artist was supposed to do. In funding my own music, I found my voice.

As drag queens and as comic people, we listen to our own artistic compass all the time.

I am not really interested in only showcasing my life or work but plan to produce, write and create work that is solely my vision.

It's really tough to make a name for yourself without compromising and without fitting yourself into a real specific mold. When I made the choice that I would be involved in every aspect of music and not necessarily make music for radio or MTV, I was saying, 'OK, this is me. You decide who it is.'

I feel like the point of being an artist is to have your own voice: to do it the way you would do it and not the way anyone else would do it. If you're a strong enough writer, then that voice is going to come out all the time, and I can't stop it from coming out, no matter what I do.

I'm not looking to be an artist to make money. I'm looking to be an artist.

I'm not an artist who has an agenda that's set by the work.

I just consider myself an artist. I don't really rap. I don't really sing. I just do what I feel is good, and people like it.

I have to be able to be the artist that I am.

I am an artist, and I have the ability and the free will to choose the way the world will envision me.

I think this, I think basically I'm not interested in people following my work or making work like my work.

The most important thing for me as an artist is having an identity.

To me, what makes an artist is a unique personality that they're not afraid to let show.

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.

I think that for every artist, it's very important to have an output and to feel very strongly about the music you're producing.

I don't consider myself an entertainer. I consider myself an artist, and I think with that comes responsibility.

When I get to make a movie, I really try to make it on my own terms.

I think people should just make art and let the art speak for itself.

To be honest, I'm selfish as an artist. I'm doing what I want to do and what I want to hear.

We got full artistic integrity and autonomy over what we were doing, and that was the main important thing that kept our band alive.

So far as I am concerned, poetry and every other art was and is and forever will be strictly and distinctly a question of individuality... If poetry is your goal, you've got to forget all about punishments and all about rewards and all about self-styled obligations and duties and responsibilities etcetera ad infinitum and remember one thing only: that it's you - nobody else - who determine your destiny and decide your fate. Nobody else can be alive for you; nor can you be alive for anybody else... There's the artist's responsibility; and the most awful responsibility on earth.

I urge younger artists to know that you don't have to be anything you don't want. You can do whatever's comfortable for you. From the music I make, to the things I do in my life, I'm true to my R&B core. I have the capability to make pop records and crossover, but that's not my aim.

I want to pave my own path artistically.

I guess I created LeRoy Neiman. Nobody else told me how to do it. Well, I'm a believer in the theory that the artist is as important as his work.