Jim James Quotes

Once I made the decision to make art despite the obstacles and to make this my priority, things just opened up for me.

Before the money or anything, number one, it was just to put out real music, real stuff with a passion, real art.

Everything I've made - it doesn't mean they've all been good - but everything I've made so far, big or little, fiction or documentary, has been something that I've been really enthusiastic about.

I'd love to do films, but I'd feel bad in my gut if I did anything just for the money. I want to wait for something I'm really passionate about, even if I don't work for a year.

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

I'm going to keep making films I believe in. Whether I am successful or not is besides the point.

The films I want to make, I really want to be passionate about.

I'm less desperate now to express what's inside me, that's true - I act these days because it keeps me awake and interested, an eternal student.

I'd say the key thing is to remain true to what originally got you into music. When I wrote 'Hallelujah,' it ignited me to do music because of the love and joy that I got from writing that song. Down the road, you get all of these opinions from people; just remember what got you started in the first place.

What drives me now is the fact that I feel like I still have so many tricks that I want to learn and so many things that I can still do. And so many cool things outside of sports that I have been doing.

To me, romantic means, um, you follow your heart more than your mind. Sometimes when you're shooting a film, you have to follow your heart.

You just have to do your art. Nothing can stop you.

It hasn't always been easy, but you get to a point where you're not doing the solo stuff with any kind of expectation in terms of commercial or a business outcome, you're doing it because you believe in this.

I really have a lot of respect for music, the art form of music. It's my whole life. I don't care about any of that other stuff. And I have always felt that way. I'll build a career on my own merits, my own hard work and nothing else.

I'm calculated in other things, but not in what I make.

I'd rather be a poor singer/songwriter doing what I love than get rich from selling my soul.

I'm just concerned with going about my business and making the records I want to make.

If you are going to work, you might as well follow your heart, because nothing in life is easy and if it's going to be hard, it might as well be what you really want.

I am so blessed to do what I love to do, but becoming a solo artist terrified me!

Music is my passion, and where there is a will there is a way.

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

I have my own studio. I'm in it all the time.

What I've learned and all of us have learned is: You can't force art, and there's no way you could force somebody to do something that they didn't want to do in this line of work.

The music business is really, really small. The real music is becoming almost extinct, if you don't stay true to who you are.

To me acting is a hobby and I'm inspired by it. And if I'm going to spend time doing something that I'm not really inspired to do, then why am I doing it? I don't know if that sounds sort of new agey or whatever, but it's true. I've been lucky enough to have a musical career that has gone pretty good and acting is something I have always wanted to do.