Laura Mvula Quotes

Every single time I step into the studio, I say, 'Can I still do this? Do I still have it? Have I ever had it?' I suppose there's a good amount of self-loathing that goes into any form of artisanship.

Self-doubt kills talent.

I've always felt like an imposter, in the whole, as a musician.

For a long time I managed to think two things simultaneously, that I am actually a good playwright, and that the next time I write a play I will be revealed as someone who is no good at all.

Every single time I start to do a picture, without fail, I feel as if I don't know what I'm doing.

I always felt like acting was something I could just do if I wanted, which was wrong.

I have two books that were published quite some time ago. I start to read about three sentences. I have to close it. I am so self-conscious. Who did I think I was?

Sometimes I panic and think I can't really write.

I'm not a writer. I'm not smart. I couldn't possibly even write my own story.

I'm intimidated every day I go on the stage and everyday I go on a movie set. It's terrifying and I always want to reshoot the first day or the first week, I'm so terrified.

The greater the artist, the greater the doubt. Perfect confidence is granted to the less talented as a consolation prize.

Lack of confidence - every time I start a new piece of work, it seems I have to spend a long while under the duvet thinking I can't do it.

I was always self-conscious about the fact that I didn't have as much comedy experience as other people at 'SNL,' and I kept thinking they were going to realize they'd made a mistake by hiring me.

My biggest fear is that I'm not good enough. I have this voice in my head that I've been battling for years that says, 'You're not really talented enough. You don't really deserve this.'

For the first six or eight months at Juilliard I felt paralysed. I didn't know what I was doing.

Me not finishing school - in my head, I still have this insecurity when I'm talking to someone educated.

I don't ever feel like I'm being an actor.

I was scared of failure, of being a one-hit wonder, never being able to write another song again, never being able to sing again. Maybe everything that I think I am and who I want to be never will happen.

After the first album, I spent a lot of time being like, 'I'm not really a singer.' That kind of mentality doesn't help.

The biggest insecurity I had was my singing. Even though I had sold 70 million records, there was this feeling like, I'm not good at this.

When I was young I had so many inferiority complexes. I had an inferiority complex because I didn't go to university. I had an inferiority complex because I didn't train. Then it gets tiring. And you do get bored of it.

The temptation to quit and start over infects every creative process I've ever been in. Frustration and boredom always fuel this self-doubt.

I still believe that at any time the no-talent police will come and arrest me.

I have fear, always, on the set. Insecurity to the point where the first week I always think I could be fired. I think that's a fear most actors have.

I was kind of scared of failing at acting.