John Hodgman Quotes

You can't write something to please someone.

Music is such an intensely personal thing for me, and I knew if I was going to do it, it would be in my own way.

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

All artists are now free to express their own personality.

As long as you're true to you, you believe it and you make others believe it, then what you're doing is just art. If you give everybody a blank canvas and some paint, not everybody's picture is going to be exactly the same, but it's still art. I just do what I do.

If I was writing songs just for me I'd only play them in my living room, alone.

There have been times when I'm writing about things that are personally embarrassing. Like any human being, sometimes I can't help but wonder - 'What are the people I know going to think about this?' So I have to remind myself that all is permissible. Art has to be a free space. Language has to be a free space.

Self-censorship is a lie to yourself; if you are going to be trying to seriously create art, to create literary art, and you decide to hold back, to censor yourself, then you are a fool to yourself and it would be better that you kept your mouth shut and did not speak.

I think every artist should follow their vision, their hearts is what they need to reveal, not something that society is looking out for.

Stand up for yourself and fight for your right to be the artist that you want to be. There's plenty of pressure from outside; people tell you how to dress and how to sing or what to sing, but I always felt like if I'm going to fail or succeed, I want to do it on my own terms.

What I've noticed about Hollywood is, if you go out there shouting about who you are, they will love you for it. But if you go out not knowing what it is that you're representing, and you are just a canvas, they will make you into the thing they need you to be.

I always felt like an outsider of the industry, and now I feel quite comfortable as an independent artist.

My music is not like everybody gonna love it, it's really what I make of it.

I think I'm just doing me, my music, my shows, and my stories.

We shouldn't censor ourselves based on the weak idea of "looking cool." It's such a waste of potential awesomeness.

The way I work is not the way that you work, and the whole point of any creative act is that. What I have to offer is me, what you have to offer is you, and if you offer yourself with authenticity and generosity I will be moved.

My work is trying to at least define myself on my own terms, and then if other people enjoy things that's a lovely addition.

I just go in the studio and do what I love to do. People will be people, they'll come and go, they'll like you then not like you, I just try to stay true to myself first and that's what most important because that way when you are successful you can stand up and say look, I did it my way and I did it the way that I wanted to do it.

Follow your heart, and your pleasure in art. Don’t do what you think is going to be making you money, or what you’re parents want you to do, or what that beautiful girl or guy thinks you should be doing. Do what you love. It’s going to lead to where you want to go. Go out there and make the world more beautiful. I know you can.

For a guy who didn't expect a fan base whatsoever, I'm pretty stoked. People say they don't understand it, and I say that's okay. I don't think anyone can argue that I'm not trying to do my own thing at least.

... maybe that's all anyone who writes or paints or sculpts is doing anyway -- excusing themselves for refusing to live like other people or be like them.

The highest duty of the writer, the composer, the artist, is to remain true to himself and to let the chips fall where they may.

We don't have to live up to the expectations of others. Passion is personal. As long as our passion is fueled with the right stuff then keep on plodding forward. I'll never be Mark Twain or Tom Clancy. But that's okay, because neither of them could teach you to mix a boundless number of grays, or where to place the catch light in a portrait.

I love this freedom that has been given to me as an artist to express myself.

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