Alexandra Fuller Quotes

I don't shy from controversy. I'm telling stories, and I'll tell whatever story seems like it wants to be told.

I can't be interesting, controversial, and the writer I'd like to be if I need everybody to like me and think I'm doing the right thing, because those two things, in my experience, never go hand in hand.

If you do things, whether it's acting or music or painting, do it without fear - that's my philosophy. Because nobody can arrest you and put you in jail if you paint badly, so there's nothing to lose.

When I was on Disney, in the back of my head, I wanted to do - not even for anyone else, just for me - I wanted to do something that was independent. And maybe a little darker.

I think the best comedians have that bravery and courage to say, 'This is what it is. This is unfair; that's not cool.'

In all the writers I admire, the common detonator is their courage to walk naked.

I think that to explore the uncomfortable and the politically incorrect is the job of the artist.

Art should offend people because art should challenge people.

I think you don't do work for controversy alone, and whenever you do new work which people don't understand and they say it is done to create controversy.

Art school had taught me it was far better to be a flamboyant failure than any kind of benign success.

The power of daring anything their fancy suggest, as always been conceded to the painter and the poet.

I learned with 'Birdman' that it's liberating when you just lose yourself and go after something that terrifies you.

Hip-hop can be limiting and I refuse to accept limits.

As an artist you actually do have to make a choice to be an outsider. If you're an outsider you have the freedom to say what people on the inside don't dare to say.

Follow the path of the unsafe, independent thinker. Expose your ideas to the dangers of controversy. Speak your mind and fear less the label of 'crackpot' than the stigma of conformity. And on issues that seem important to you, stand up and be counted at any cost.

I've always been controversial because I offer new ideas. For me to be controversial, I think this is positive.

I don't like to be labeled, to be anything. I've made the mistake before myself of labeling my music, but it's counter-productive.

As artists, we have to be brave. If we aren't brave, we aren't artists.

Because I've lived a risky and unconventional life, I don't often struggle for subjects to write about.

You have to do what you need to do as an artist. You have to have that courage.

I found out that total creativity involves a certain intellectual rebellion - not to become a criminal, but somehow. to be totally creating, you have to do things that are a little bit forbidden. You have to feel free, and we know freedom is a hard thing to get.

I've always questioned the way dancers, myself included, must do the same role year in and year out. It's important for me to be able to say to myself, 'O.K., I don't want to be a prince anymore. I want to put on a leather jockstrap and pose.'

People might say I'm difficult, but did you ever hear anyone describe a label as 'difficult'? By nature, artists should challenge. When they call you difficult, it is a reflection of the imbalance of power.

I am not afraid that the book will be controversial, I'm afraid it will not be controversial.

What is art? Art talks about life; it's subversive.