Vetrimaaran Quotes

Don't write your books for people who won't like them. Give yourself wholly to the kind of book you want to write, and don't try to please readers who like something different.

I've never been one to sit back and go, 'I'd better do what the audience wants me to do, because I don't want to lose them.'

When I write a book... it's the same essential approach to music as with books. It has to be something I want to hear or read. Hopefully the audience comes along, since that's the only way you can write righteously. I have to ask, 'What do I want to hear?' not 'What do people want to hear?'

All my big mistakes are when I try to second-guess or please an audience. My work is always stronger when I get very selfish about it.

I write the novels that are possible for me to write, not that ones I think will come across in a certain light.

I never wanted to be a feature - that was never the goal with my music. I didn't want to just live through other people's work.

I think you write the film that you want to see, and you try and do it honestly, and you can't control people's responses, really.

You hear it said time and time again by successful directors: You have to make a movie for yourself. Don't make it for anyone else.

I can only do music if I can do it the way I can do it.

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.

The rule I stand by as an artist is definitely be yourself, and don't make music just for other people: make it for you first.

If you write for the critics, only the critics will read you.

If the stuff you're writing is not for yourself, it won't work.

I feel like if you let someone else create your vision, then it's not true to your band. No one can ever do as good as you want, or as good as you can yourself.

You work so hard at something to make sure that it's very pure and very genuine and very steadfast to who you are, so creative control for me is a big one. Thankfully, I've been able to retain 98% of it which I never really expected, so I'm very grateful to be able to control what I can.

I'm certainly not who people think I am. I always do whatever I want to do, and my films are personal to me.

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.

You can't write something to please someone.

I want to make music that I like; not something that I have to make because I think it's going to sell.

My greatest achievement is being able to write records that are real snapshots of what's going on in my life. I won't repeat myself for the sake of commerce, or to please other people.

I try to make my music interesting to me first, then hopefully other people will find it interesting, too.

I've gotten to a point where I wouldn't direct someone else's material. It would only be something totally original.

I'm not entangled in shaping my work according to other people's views of how I should have done it.

My colleagues and I have to constantly remind each other that we must keep our own view on the world while making films. With 'Chicken Run,' we learned how easy it is to be influenced by outside forces, but you mustn't lose the heart and soul of what you are doing.

If you start to just aim for what the audience wants to hear, you're already hamstrung because you don't have any freedom.