Fela Kuti Quotes

I am against censorship in any form. I think anybody should be able to make any movie he or she wants and let the public decide. If it's disgusting and they don't want to see it, they won't go. I believe in the audience.

I think political correctness is a moving line.

The first test of a truly great man is his humility. By humility I don't mean doubt of his powers or hesitation in speaking his opinion, but merely an understanding of the relationship of what he can say and what he can do.

When it comes to doing my job, I keep my ego in my handbag.

What is often said in private may not be said in public.

The people never endeavor to ridicule those they love and esteem, nor will they suffer them to be ridiculed. If any one attempts it, their ridicule returns upon the author; he makes himself only the object of public hatred and contempt.

It is by the goodness of God that in our country we have those three unspeakably precious things: freedom of speech, freedom of conscience, and the prudence never to practice either.

While I hope that people like my work, I don't think an artist should be afraid of ­people not liking his work.

I try to keep it the same, try to stay humble.

I always would hear people say, 'Omarion is underrated,' or 'Omarion doesn't get the props he deserves,' and I always thought that was interesting because I have had a certain level of success.

I accept that everyone is entitled to his opinion and as a coach, I don't run away from criticism.

Acting is very subjective and one can't be deterred by what people think of your work.

Anything anyone wants to say about me is fair. There's not a single thing that any viewer has ever said about anything I do on television that has bothered me in the least. And every single person has the right to hate whoever they want to hate on television, whether it be singers, actors, pundits. That's the deal.

There are certain things I would never write about - anything that's too distasteful. I think that you can withhold information.

I do think the audiences have a right to judge what they feel is offensive and not.

When I had the job of police commissioner, 20 years ago, I was more sensitive, more cognizant of complaints and concerned about public opinion. I've learned to do what I think is the right thing. That lessens the impact of criticism. You get used to a pressurized environment and expect it every day.

I was thinking that people have to believe you're crazy in order to take you seriously as an artist.

It's kinda ridiculous what you can't say nowadays. You really can't say anything you believe! I think it's fricking ridiculous how sensitive everyone is to everything, how much things are frowned upon. How much stuff will cost you nowadays. I think it's fricking ridiculous that we can't - there's certain topics that you can't really say how you feel about.

I'm not into screamo music, but I respect it. It's hard to do, to keep your voice and stuff like that. It's hard to do, so I respect the music. It's just not my favorite to listen to. That's all I want. I just want people to respect me as an artist.

I don't believe in censorship, but I do believe that an artist has to take some moral responsibility for what he or she is putting out there.

Almost half of the Turkish population believes it is not legitimate to criticize the government. Interestingly, this correlates with the number of supporters of Erdogan's government.

In the past people used to tell me to shut up a bit. But what I believe is to put out your opinion and let everyone else react. If I'm wrong I'm wrong. People are afraid to put out their opinions and get push back.

I'm no expert in what country artists go through or how country audiences would react, but I'll say that the work I did to put myself in Will Lexington's shoes absolutely led me to believe that it would ruin his career. Meanwhile, I was getting lots of supportive messages saying, "Will Lexington should just come out! It's 2015 already, audiences are going to embrace it!"

I wouldn't place much stock in numbers. I don't believe that they reflect Putin's true popularity. Just think about how the pollsters proceed. They call people and they ask them questions on the street. In today's Russia, it takes a lot of courage to tell a stranger something critical about the head of the Kremlin. And yet more than 20 percent do so nonetheless.

I don't really have guilty pleasures. Anything musically that I fully, fully believe, is good no matter who the artist is, no matter what the marketing is behind it, I stand pretty firm.