William T. Vollmann Quotes

I've found that in now having experienced what it's like to make records and just through growing up in general that you should be expressive about what's affecting you instead of trying to sing about a subject just for the sake of other people getting something from it.

I have to live authentically at all times. And that's part of what makes me an artist. I'm not scared to do that.

I don't mind finding these ugly sides to my personality and exaggerating them because that's something you can write towards.

One of my big goals as a human being is to continue to write what's really happening to me, even if it's a tough pill to swallow for people around me... I do fear that if I ever were to have someone in my life who mattered, I would second-guess every one of my lyrics.

I became Fantastic Negrito, and I felt like there was a rawness and an honesty in that music that I could relate to. That I was ready, finally, in my life to be that honest with myself.

I've never really been afraid of how people were going to define me, as long as I didn't write some cheaper song because people like that I'm depressed.

I always wanted everyone to love me, probably because I didn't love myself enough. But now I realize that when you're an artist, you're making the music that's in your head and in your heart, and not for any other reason.

You can't write about a personal struggle if you're going to water it down to meet everyone's expectations about what's appropriate.

At first, I was scared to show fear because you can never be sure how people will perceive you. But I dared myself to do that, to stand out. Now I'll talk about being beaten up or robbed or making a stupid decision because of a girl or whatever.

I think the key to great art and great artists is to just fully be yourself and not be scared of that, and be the extremes of your personality. Show the extremes of your personality and embrace the imperfections. Embrace the things about yourself that you might not like.

We are never doing anyone any favors by withholding our gifts from the world. It's scary to be fierce, but you can't compromise that for fear of losing those around you.

I always tell students that writing a poem and publishing it are two quite separate things, and you should write what you have to write, and if you're afraid it's going to upset someone, don't publish it.

Self-censorship is a lie to yourself; if you are going to be trying to seriously create art, to create literary art, and you decide to hold back, to censor yourself, then you are a fool to yourself and it would be better that you kept your mouth shut and did not speak.

Nobody can tell you you're wrong for writing a song about how you feel - even if you don't really feel that way.

I say what's in my heart, and I do it in my concerts.

I just write songs from the heart, and you never know who'll like the songs. I try to make sure that I don't allow anybody's expectation to weigh on me. I have my own expectation of life. I believe in letting people be free.

None of the records I make are ever a deliberate construction - they're always an expression of who I am at the time and where I am in my life.

The biggest thing that I hope people take away when they listen to my music is that they feel that there is an outlet being presented that allows them to be more authentic and for them to be more honest in their own lives.

I don't feel I have to be Jackson Browne. Still, I like to say something.

A lot of artists are afraid to be themselves and afraid to tell people what it really is.

If you're really gonna live, you have to be vulnerable.

Stealing Chanel' was very different for me as an artist. I had to embrace and expose my vulnerabilities, instead of manifesting a character.

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.

There's things that I say that people wouldn't say. And just putting across my vulnerability as a person in my music as well. A lot of people wouldn't do that, everyone wants to be hard.

I feel like I try to write from an honest of a place as I can - without scaring people off too much, I guess.