Ornette Coleman Quotes

I don't like labels. I think they conceal more than they reveal, sort of like a bikini.

I dislike when people try to pigeonhole me, when all I want is to do good work.

As a film-maker, I certainly don't want to be put into some box.

I will no longer enter into the all-American skin game that demands you select a box and define yourself by it.

I don't like labels.

The one thing I will never do is become pigeonholed.

I feel like the point of being an artist is to have your own voice: to do it the way you would do it and not the way anyone else would do it. If you're a strong enough writer, then that voice is going to come out all the time, and I can't stop it from coming out, no matter what I do.

Labels are for cans, not people.

I've tried to avoid labels, but they always find you.

I don't like the monikers, and I don't like being pigeonholed. You know, I'm a human being.

I don't like labels. I don't understand the need for them. When you define yourself a certain way, people have expectations.

I've always ignored the labels people put on things.

To me, what makes an artist is a unique personality that they're not afraid to let show.

Artists are traditionally resistant to labels.

I've always wrestled against being typified in one way or another.

They're never gonna not put you in a box. It's something that they have to do, because nine times out of 10 people don't understand creativity.

The moment you start thinking about what other people and other artists think, you're going to start writing like other people.

I don't want to have any category stamped on my face.

I'm just trying to be myself - make music how I make music.

What I don't like is when people feel like they can box an artist into who they think an artist should be.

You don't have to fight against being placed in a box any more than the number two has to fight against being the number three. I mean, two is not going to be the number three, ever.

I feel like it's important, especially at young age, to find exactly what it is that makes your style so important as opposed to just trying to fit into the iconic styles of performers out there.

It has bothered me all my life that I do not paint like everybody else.

It does not matter how badly you paint so long as you don't paint badly like other people.

I try not to name too many labels - not because it's not cool, but because it starts getting political.