Conor Oberst Quotes

I am interested in art as a means of living a life; not as a means of making a living.

I have never expected anything from my work but the satisfaction I could get from it by the very fact of painting and saying what I couldn't say otherwise.

True artists are almost the only men who do their work for pleasure.

Set me a task in which I can put something of my very self, and it is a task no longer; it is joy; it is art.

All any artist can do is please themselves.

I didn't start making music in order to be famous.

I have always tried to work according to what affects me, to a script that I like because it touches me in some way, without deliberately pursuing a commercial career or a particular image.

I don't like to be entertaining. I don't like the feeling of being entertaining. If there was a musical or a comedy that was not just for entertainment but was rooted in something I could relate to on a real level, then I think I would do it.

Whether it be in acting, music, or even in dancing, I only want to do things that I truly connect to, and with my music, it's everything that I am.

I finally got to the point where I decided I don't care if it's good art or bad art - it's what I do. I enjoy doing it, and people like it.

I'm doing what I do for the right reasons. I love the music that I make.

'Swallow My Gift' is all about music being its own reward. I don't do it to become more famous; I don't do it to make money. I don't do it from an ego-driven point of view.

I don't think the goal is, 'How big a star did you ever become?' I think the goal is, 'Were you able to express yourself?'

For me, I really feel like if there's not a real, true connection to the material, I don't need to sing it. I don't need to sing songs just because I like them anymore. I've done that.

I don't write for a particular audience. I work as an artist, and I think the audience of one, which is the self, and I have to satisfy myself as an artist. So I always say that I write for the same people that Picasso painted for. I think he painted for himself.

I've never really cared if I was famous for my music. It was just something I had to do.

I make music not to make money but because it's in me.

I suppose we'll make money off our album and our singles and stuff, but, like, they were made as we wanted them, exactly with what we had to say, and done exactly how we wanted them, right? And, like, we didn't put them out to make money. We put them out because we wanted to do them, do you know what I mean?

In my short career, I tend not to repeat myself. I have no interest in redoing something. Sometimes that makes people angry, and maybe it's not the best thing for me commercially. But it's the best thing for me artistically, and it's the best thing for my heart.

I consider myself first of all an artist. My work is about my creativity - why I create and not for whom.

I don't write anything down - it comes from my head and my soul and my heart and my pain. That allows me to make the best music I can make.

I think the biggest reward is not physical. I rather obtain things spiritually. I mean, it's so cool to be acknowledged by the public, but that's not my goal. That's not why I make music. I would do it anyway, if there was no reward.

I want to create music that moves me, not just music that is going to get me famous or make someone at a label happy.

I don't make art to make money, I make art so I can make art.

As an artist, you have to do what you feel passionate about. It has to be something you can connect with.