R. Kelly Quotes

Satisfying myself is the point in filmmaking, in my mind.

I never do anything to strictly satisfy a fickle, ever-changing commercial world. I do the music I like to play. It's the only way I feel comfortable existing in the industry.

I love singing just for my own benefit.

I only make movies I want to go see.

When I get to do whatever I want, I'm perfectly happy. I've found that the best scenario is that I just do what I do, and if somebody wants to be part of it, they should work as a conduit for what vision I have. They should help me complete the universe.

Writing is much more satisfying on a certain level than acting ever was. Because you're not interpreting someone else's original idea, you can come up with your own.

I've never put out a song that I wasn't completely proud of and that I didn't love. In that sense, I've never felt like I sold out in any way.

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?

I feel happy that I am being honoured for doing films of my own liking.

When I write a movie, I write it for me.

There's lots of different ways of writing stuff and lots of different mindsets to have, but I think when it's your own creation, it's more pleasurable because you have total control.

I only want to make music I like and that I can enjoy myself and be proud of.

I write to please myself.

I'd never even thought about compromise when I worked in my studio. The major distinction is in the priority of who I ultimately wanted to please: myself or the audience.

Your joy lies within you.

Your freedom as a writer is not freedom of expression in the sense of wild blurting; you may not let rip. It is life at its most free, if you are fortunate enough to be able to try it, because you select your materials, invent your task, and pace yourself.

It's triumphant for someone to wake up to life. I feel a tremendous sense of liberation. You want to be able to use both your intuitive side and your go-get-'em side with no blame.

I'm really open to just about anything but I think the real dream is to be able to write my own thing.

As a designer you have to just do whatever you want to do. The second I came to terms with that, it transformed my work.

Any writer worth his salt writes to please himself.

I'm what I am and I'm what I'm not. And I'm sure happy with what I've got. I live to love and laugh a lot. And that's all I need.

It's really liberating and fun to be writing stuff for myself, and really have the freedom to say what I want to say and not really have to think about what somebody else is going to say or have to edit myself to speak from someone else's vision.

I'm very grateful to be in a position now where I have a lot more control to tell the stories I want to tell. I feel no obligation to tell any one story. I will tell you my interest mostly lies in telling stories about empowered women, but I don't feel it's an obligation. But I do feel like I am servicing a voice.

I work when I feel like I can do something that pleases me, that I think I can give a little more than I've given up to yesterday.

A lot of people thought I got famous as a studio artist, then decided to cash in on it. But it actually was just a matter of survival for many years, and I felt it was really important for me to be able to say whatever I wanted with my street art and fine art.