Tennessee Williams Quotes

The responsibility of an artist is to be honest with themselves.

I am quite certain in my heart of hearts that modern music and modern art is not a conspiracy, but is a form of truth and integrity for those who practise it honestly, decently and with all their being.

I always write what feels really true and honest and me.

If I was going to pretend to be the supermom next door, it would've been counterfeit and a lie. I figured I had to write something out of a new place.

If I can't be honest with music, forget it.

I think the key for any kind of artist - and this transcends music - is a certain degree of authenticity and sincerity.

If I cannot be myself in what I write, then the whole is nothing but lies and humbug.

I just don't think that I could be the kind of actor I want to be and not be honest with myself. Honesty is very important to me as an actor and as a person. I didn't even think about it.

I cannot and do not live in the world of discretion, not as a writer, anyway. I would prefer to, I assure you - it would make life easier. But discretion is, unfortunately, not for novelists.

I do not just write, I write what I am. If there is a secret, perhaps that is it.

Don't try to write what other people are writing - write what is true to you.

I think the success of my work stems from being truthful.

Every single lyric I've ever written I meant.

Art is about expressing the true nature of the human spirit in whatever way one wishes to express it. If it is honest, it is beautiful. If it is not honest, it is obvious.

I don't write anything that I haven't lived. In terms of integrity, you have to write what you live. And if you write beyond what you live, it is theory. And theory is not helpful. It is just not.

I feel some kind of duty to be really, really honest as a writer. The same is true of my songwriting.

All of my music is honest.

I feel as though there are things that I'm trying to do - you know, capturing truthfully some aspect of human experience - and I'm trying really hard not to be fake. And in writing, as in life, it's harder than you think.

I wouldn't be a writer if I couldn't tell the truth.

When writing songs, especially if they're kinda semi-true to you, a lot of people hide behind whatever their idea of themselves is in the record, and every now and then, you might make a song that exposes something a little too much about you, and there's a part that doesn't want yourself to be exposed.

I think art is much more valuable when it's honest. If it's not honest, it's just propaganda.

I feel it's much easier to be honest or be myself in songs when I'm playing. That's why I felt, 'You know, I'm going to write the truth.'

From a place of truth, I think artists or actors have to be real with what they're doing.

I like taking different elements - clothes, shoes, lighting - and creating a total transformation. But it's never about hiding: it's about drawing something out from deep inside of me that's really true. I'm always trying really hard to tell you the truth. That's what this is all about for me.

It's just about being honest. I listen to a lot of stuff that's out there, some of which I wrote, and I'm like, 'Where is that? Where's the honesty?' So that's what I want to get to in my music now.