Maurice Sendak Quotes

When I looked at people like Goya and Pina Bausch, the message I got was just do what you're passionate about. Don't think about what other people are going to say or how they're going to receive your work. Just be your work.

I don't feel I have to be Jackson Browne. Still, I like to say something.

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

I have never been able to separate - nor have I wanted to - my personal love and desire for truth, passion, and understanding from my lyrics.

I'm just excited that I get to put out the music I love versus music just for the sake of it.

Music is just kind of an expression of who I am. It's what I do.

I don't want ever to be guilty of what my critics claim: doing formula without original elements.

I have to live authentically at all times. And that's part of what makes me an artist. I'm not scared to do that.

I never wanted to be that fad type of artist. When I looked up to artists, watching TV, I wanted to see somebody. I wanted to touch that person. I wanted to sound like them. I wanted to move like them. That' s what I want my fans to do. So that's why, everything that I do, the music I make, how I dress, it's all based off my lifestyle.

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.

Books are not brands. Some people are very willing to see themselves as a brand, but you can't be a certain type of writer to a certain type of person all the time. It will kill you.

If you're trying to please everyone, then you're not going to make anything that is honestly yours, I don't think, in the long run.

Just trying to be different - when I hear something - I don't like to go trampling on other people's sounds.

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

Labels don't mean anything to me. I'm trying to play as passionately as I'm able to. If they want to call that cool, that's fine. Just spell the name right, is the formula.

If you have value as an artist it's probably going to be in your capacity to let things inside you get past things that are placed there to keep you from telling the truth. The more you see things as clearly and coldly as you can, the more value you're going to have.

Years ago, I carved out an identity, and it has always been about having a voice to tell people about stuff I love.

All I try to do is to write music that feels meaningful to me, that has commitment and passion behind it.

I care so much about making things that are useful for people to have and listen to, but I don't care so much that I won't do whatever the hell I want. It's just one of those things.

I'll never be August Wilson - but what I can be is more of myself.

I'm part of the fashion system, but I don't want to follow all the rules. I don't want to be contrarian - I just want to do my own things, which are most honest and correct to do.

I'm crazy. I know I'm crazy 'cause Desmond Tutu told me, and he's very clever. He said, 'You must free yourself, be more of who you are. Be more crazy.' And I'm going to.

I've never tried to be anything but me. Even with Slipknot, where it can almost feel like a roll sometimes, it's still a part of who I am. It's a very strong and passionate part of who I am, and I'm lucky enough to have an audience that is really open to what I do.

To maintain one's individuality, integrity, and true personality in the theatre is a big task.

I don't think people are fans of me because I wrote hit songs. I think they're fans because I'm a lunatic or a weirdo. The hit songs came out of my idiosyncratic personality, not the other way around.