John Legend Quotes

I think another way that you can really harm yourself as an artist is by buying into the mythology that it's really important.

If I were related to Monet, I don't know if I would be comfortable becoming an artist because it's too much, the comparison. If I wrote a book and put it out, the comparison to my great-grandfather, the comparison would be hilarious. Every critic, it would be their dream, they'd tear me apart.

I always felt like there was a certain standard of music that I had to do from the beginning, even when I didn't have the recognition that I have now.

I used to tell everyone I met to be an artist..... I don't do that any more.

When the news is slow, or when there's just so many other responsibilities bearing down on me that I don't have the time to do it right, that's when it gets frustrating. As an artist, you just don't wanna put bad work out. So when you have to do it seven days a week, you're just gonna have some bad days and bad weeks and bad months and bad years.

There are so many great artists, I think, who kind of suffer from being icons, legends, acknowledged masters.

I've been touring for so long, I've kind of honed into exactly what I am, I'm an artist so if you like it, you like it, if you don't you don't, you know?

When have you ever heard of a cantor or any artist turning anyone down when he is strongly urged to perform?

I just feel if you are an artist, you always have something to prove, if you are in music or in films, you have to prove that you can still do your best.

With every film, the pressure is on the rise for the next.

When you have a reputation for making not only good songs but great albums, that in itself creates added artistic pressure. But, at the end of the day, I guess that pressure is something I welcome.

I hear a lot of people saying my stuff sounds the same. When you're in my position, people come to you to give them the same sound in a different type of way.

Since I am an artist, I know the media can pick you apart.

I used to never feel pressure to be creative; it's always just been a fun thing. And then suddenly, it's my job, and people are asking, 'Where's the record?'

No one could have ever prepared me for the whole world judging me and comparing me to other artists.

I thought 'Gutterflower' was a really good record, but the album before that got so big that everyone expected us to go through that again.

I'm just a manga artist, so I can't stand being scrutinized.

Here's the deal: You can't go in with the intent that, 'All right, we're gonna write another 'Free Bird' or 'What's Your Name.'' You can't think about it in those terms, because you'll never outdo your history.

After the first album, I felt like I needed to one up myself - get even bigger features - and I spent six months thinking about that and not making any music.

'Seven Turns' was a tough album because we knew that the critics would use it to determine whether or not we should have remained broken up.

I think, for every artist, the second album is the most terrifying one to put out because it can either boost your career, and everybody can't wait until your third album, or the second one is terrible, and 'He probably hit a plateau on his first one.'

I think, ultimately, the problem with something like this is that you actually have so many more opportunities to say something than you actually have things worth saying. And then, as an artist who doesn't want to do bad work, gosh, how do you fill up all that space when you really don't have anything actually worthwhile to say? And that's what makes the job tough, because the fans get mad - "That's not funny," or "You've been sucking for several months now." And you go, "It's not my fault! I'm trying."

Kill the idea of the lone, suffering artist. Don't make it any harder on yourself.

It's so easy to get into the same routine. A novel every two years; perhaps, improving technique. But I'm not interested in that. I'm interested in doing something fundamentally important--and therefore, it needs time. And what I've been doing, really, is avoiding this pressure to get into the habit of one novel a year. This is what is expected of novelists. And I have never been really too much concerned with doing what is expected of novelists, or writers, or artists. I want to do what I believe is important.

Most famous artists are created by their work and the idea of them as a character, and if they're smart and ambitious, they reinforce that character because they want to win. They want their views to prevail.