Kurt Vonnegut Quotes

As a human being, I am a citizen, but as an artist, I am asocial.

In every society, the artists will be the ones who set themselves up as contrary to whatever the society expects.

My mother thought me being gay was a death sentence.

If I dyed my hair, my mother would actually disown me.

A citizen sticks to conventions, does whatever is social. Artists, of course, must reject all conventions. I see no differently in reconciling the best of both of these worlds.

Being the youngest, I constantly have that insecurity of being the youngest, which ultimately is probably my drive. in a lot of ways. In terms of as an artist, the way we could communicate as a family very clearly was through movies and through acting, and when things became complicated with all of our own personalities, that's where we are most clear. I think that's also where we are most brutal with each other as well.

The moment that an artist takes notice of what other people want, and tries to supply the demand, he ceases to be an artist.

It would be a terrible world if everyone was an artist. Nothing would get done!

An artist must be a reactionary

On "Tonight" I think I was torn dreadfully between writing what I wanted to write, but keeping it in a style that would follow up what I had just done. That's where I feel I was untrue to myself as an artist . . . that album and, to a lesser extent, "Never Let Me Down."

Wasn't the whole point of being an artist, or at least part of it, that you didn't have to wear a tie?

I truly find such a sense of peace and calm when I'm working, and it's an inner peace that I've never been ever to achieve, doing anything else. It's where I feel most myself. I can access my power and strength, as an artist, and I can't imagine not doing it. I love it!

Try to keep the rebel artist alive in you, no matter how attractive or exhausting the temptation.

When I was 12 or 13 I already knew that I was gay. And then my interests were not conventional. So I was very different, in every sense of the word. And in an all-boys school, that's tough.

There is no such thing as a dumb poet or a handless painter. The essence of an artist is that he should be articulate.

I wanted to be a painter and an artist. And it's interesting that in some of my later musical works, I refer so often and associate myself with works of art.

The criminal, like the artist, is a social explorer.

Being a solo artist is what I do. It's what I've been doing for the last 20 years and a bit before then.

I think even when I was little there was signs that I was an artist. I've always been an artist.

I'd hate to be a writer forever and never perform, and I'd hate to perform and not write. I get sad if time has passed and I haven't written or made anything. I'm an artist.

I feel dance and pop music genres are extremely female and extremely gay. When it comes to art and pop culture, queers are f - king weirdos. We don't have gender rules that tell us what we can and can't be. We just make it up as we go along. We have full creative license to be whatever we want to be.

I was a strange child. I was the kid with funny hair listening to dodgy music [...] I'd come in with my hoodie and skate-shoes, with purple hair under the hood. I got away with it because I spent all my time in the art room, so they figured I was 'artistic'. I was that kind of kid, listening to Green Day and the Deftones and all that kind of thing.

Growing up, I'd already decided I wanted to be a beatnik. A Bohemian poet, I thought. Or a musician. Maybe an artist. I'd dress in black turtlenecks and smoke Gitanes. I'd listen to cool jazz in clubs, getting up to read devastating truths from my notebook, leaning against the microphone, cigarette dangling from my hand.

I wanted to be an artist, because it's a much better scam than being an architect.

I am not a liberal, not a conservative, not a believer in gradual progress, not a monk. I should like to be a free artist and nothing more.