Renzo Piano Quotes

You have freedom, so you have to make choices - and at the point when I make a choice, the building starts to look like a Frank Gehry building. It's a signature.

Books are not brands. Some people are very willing to see themselves as a brand, but you can't be a certain type of writer to a certain type of person all the time. It will kill you.

When I was shopping around trying to get signed, I made it a point to say, 'This is who I am.' I dress the way I normally dress, and I just wanted to find a label that would accept me for that.

There will always be some films that the audience would like and some that they don't. But if I start becoming a slave to appreciation, I will be subjecting myself and my talent to one particular type of taste. I don't want to do that.

Being in somebody else's thing and saying their words and not having any right to change it - I don't know how I'd deal with that. I'd like to think I could do it, but I just know I've got a dead particular taste.

As a performer, the thing you want the most is to be your authentic self.

I'd rather have people dislike my style than change it. If someone says, 'Hey, Yngwie, you play too damn much,' I don't care. They way I play is the way I like to play. If people like it, great. If they don't, it's still fine with me.

You can't please everybody. As long as you make dope music, you're gonna have your fans.

Hollywood seduces a person who's used to making theater, art, and having success on their own terms and then tries to squish them into a box and, eventually, throws the box out.

You can filter certain stuff - it depends what artist you are - but you're never going to be true to yourself if you're worried about what other people think.

Creativity is not about making 30 songs in 30 days. It's never about demand and supply. No one can possibly do that.

I'm just trying to be myself - make music how I make music.

When directors tell me they want a song like one, I tell them no song should be like another. I don't listen to directors.

I brought my personality to HQ. I injected my DNA into this thing. They gave me a blank slate to work with.

I'm someone who speaks my mind, so it was important to me that my publisher value originality and creative expression.

Self-censorship is the most devastating thing for an artist.

You can't try and make something you think someone else will like. You can only make what you like. How can you make a song that Yo-Landi Visser likes? You don't know me. You'll never understand me.

I've always been committed to tuning out the trends of drag and doing styles and fashions and performances that are really true to what I love, to the movie references I've always loved, fashion that speaks to me for whatever reason - no matter what people say.

I must never change my way - because of critics who may not like it - I preserve my language and my style.

I'm not trying to appeal to anybody. I just try to do my thing and make the best music I can make.

It might be a selfish choice, but I find it quite difficult to design for individuals and prefer the distance of larger schemes. It's the same reason why, as a designer, I don't do wedding dresses.

Certain people like the way I make films, and others do not. I've come to terms with the fact that there's no other way I can make films. If I tried to do it in a different way, it would never work.

You have to try and make the role your own and not copy anyone else.

The worst frame of mind to be in is what the fans like or what the fans want, because then you lose the authenticity of who you are as an artist and who you are as a person.

My entire approach is built on the idea that things can be commercial and artistic.