Sofia Coppola Quotes

I couldn't be an artist who was told what to do, what to be, what to sing.

I only write music for myself, I don't try and appeal to anyone else.

They say I'm insane because I need to have so much creative control. They say I'm unmanageable, but I'm not. I just know what I like. I'm obsessed with it. If you can't control it, that's like having somebody else paint your pictures. How could you do that? I never could.

I never want to be in a position where I have to defend my material. It's too subjective. It's for other people to defend or not defend.

I just wanted to do my own albums where nobody could tell me what to do. Roc Nation was the perfect fit because I could do what I wanted to do.

The only place where any artist feels liberated is doing independent music. I have had great experience making music for The Dewarists and Coke Studio. No actor, producer or label is telling me what to do with my music. I'm the boss. It is my life, my expression.

I just make music that I love. I'm kind of selfish when I make music. I'm like, 'Do I like this?'

I practice the artist's golden rule. I wouldn't want somebody telling me how to finish my painting, I'm not going to tell him how to finish his movie or how to shape his movie.

It's a simple formula for me now, I don't play any song I don't want to play.

I think the line is where you're in the studio, you're creating. That belongs to you as an artist. Nothing should taint that. I shouldn't be thinking about what the fans want, I shouldn't be thinking about what the radio wants, what the label wants, what your manager wants, a song for the chicks, a song for the street.

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

One doesn't make art for other people, even though I am very concerned with the viewer.

I think the key to making records generally is to make 'em for yourself, regardless of the climate in the business.

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

As a filmmaker, I always try not to concern myself with the outcome of things. I make the movie, and I do that as honestly and good as I can. I don't want to pollute my thoughts with what is going to happen with it afterwards, because I have to work inside-out.

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

The dean of the American Film Institute has written that I'm one of the very few auteurs in America. I've had freedom for 40 years to create art that is totally personal and is what I believe in.

You can only be free as an artist if you're free as a person.

I don't want to use my creative energy on somebody else's user interface.

You want to feel that you can do something creative that you love without being picked apart and mutilated for other people's pleasure.

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.'

I'm not an artist who has an agenda that's set by the work.

The most honest form of filmmaking is to make a film for yourself.

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 want to be free... free to develop my art.