Chinua Achebe Quotes

If you start to just aim for what the audience wants to hear, you're already hamstrung because you don't have any freedom.

An artist must never be a prisoner. Prisoner? An artist should never be a prisoner of himself, prisoner of style, prisoner of reputation, prisoner of success, etc.

Prince was one of the best people I've met. He didn't care about the big system. I was always like, at any time, Prince could write a No. 1 song because he's that talented, but he chooses to do what he wants. I respect that. He actually helped me through a lot of situations with his knowledge.

I say, play your own way. Don't play what the public want - you play what you want and let the public pick up on what you doing - even if it does take them fifteen, twenty years.

An artist should write for himself & not for an audience. If the audience likes it, great. If not, they can keep away.

I want to make music that I like; not something that I have to make because I think it's going to sell.

My greatest achievement is being able to write records that are real snapshots of what's going on in my life. I won't repeat myself for the sake of commerce, or to please other people.

I like to make the music that I really love. You're supposed to make your favorite music that no one else played, and I'd like to just keep it at that and not really change it at all.

I've gotten to a point where I wouldn't direct someone else's material. It would only be something totally original.

I don't want to use my creative energy on somebody else's user interface.

It was important that I got my own voice out there in the world. I'd used it on other people's films, collaborated, and I thought, 'You know, I can do this myself.' That was more important than anything else.

When anyone starts out to do something creative - especially if it seems a little unusual - they seek approval, often from those least inclined to give it. But a creative life cannot be sustained by approval, any more than it can be destroyed by criticism - you learn this as you go on.

I know, people have had different things to say about Marvel, about how creatively free they are or not free they are, but for me, the rule has always just been stay as good as I can possibly be, and stay one step ahead of the curve, and stay unique, and stay myself. And they seem to like that.

I want to be a genuine artist who has a say in what I do.

My art and my creativities were totally something that was of my own heart and mind. I could never let anybody dictate to me what I should write and how I would write it.

I just always make honest music. I just always kinda do what I wanna do.

If you look at somebody like Sam Bee, she got to create her own thing without any expectations that there was a show there. That was probably liberating for them.

I have never done films to prove a point to anyone; I have done them for myself.

I can only do music if I can do it the way I can do it.

You can filter certain stuff - it depends what artist you are - but you're never going to be true to yourself if you're worried about what other people think.

Creativity is not about making 30 songs in 30 days. It's never about demand and supply. No one can possibly do that.

When directors tell me they want a song like one, I tell them no song should be like another. I don't listen to directors.

I've always wanted to keep my own personal creative space, and do everything myself.

Rules limit you, and once you start thinking about what the audience wants or expects, it becomes a trap that a lot of artists fall into.

Young people have realised that an artist is in charge of what they're doing - this crazy cynicism that artists were puppets has disappeared.