Mahershala Ali Quotes

If I cried me a river of all my confessions, would I drown in my shallow regret?

It takes a level of creative depression to hear 'Girls Just Wanna Have Fun' and weep.

I think people just think I am crazy because they see me doing stand-up, but I am generally not. I am very sad. I'm one of those guys that lights candles and listens to Rachmaninoff.

If I didn't have my films as an outlet for all the different sides of me, I would probably be locked up.

If I hadn't had acting, I would probably have imploded.

As a boy and even now, I am wont to melancholy. I do, probably once a day, experience a sincere heartbreak.

I've struggled with self-esteem and depression, like most singer-songwriters. I listen to my EPs on Bandcamp, and I can just hear the pain and the self-esteem struggle in my voice.

Sometimes I hate writing songs. Because it hurts sometimes. I'm very emotional.

Sadness takes up the pen more readily than joy.

My fear of life is necessary to me, as is my illness. Without anxiety and illness, I am a ship without a rudder. My art is grounded in reflections over being different from others. My sufferings are part of my self and my art. They are indistinguishable from me, and their destruction would destroy my art. I want to keep those sufferings

Experiencing sadness and anger can make you feel more creative, and by being creative, you can get beyond your pain or negativity.

I am often lost in my own world, with a frown on my face.

I suppose I'm interested in sorrow, which is very different from depression or despair. Sorrow is continuous with the world; it allows for creativity.

I love sad. Sadness makes you feel more than anything.

I'm a fairly tormented artist, and I'm less willing to indulge myself in self-pity, outside of songwriting.

I think often sadness is a great place to get songs from.

I have always been fascinated by dark and mysterious stuff. I guess I have a pretty dark and gloomy side. Writing songs saves me from going completely gonzo.

For as long as I can remember I have suffered from a deep feeling of anxiety which I have tried to express in my art.

I can barely conceive of a type of beauty in which there is no Melancholy.

Whenever you're writing something that's reflective, you have to put yourself through some sort of ordeal just to understand the way you're feeling.

I only ever really take out my guitar when I'm miserable, which isn't necessarily a very good time to do it.

No one wants to spend too long inside their own darkness.

Elaine is just in pain. I think Elaine has become very, very sad woman. She is someone who is in deep need of many hours of analysis and I like to think that I'm not that type of person.

When I first started making music, it was where I went when I couldn't express myself, when I wasn't able to connect with other people, when I couldn't talk about what I was going through.

I feel like I'm in my own head a lot; it just feels amazing, but scary, weird and confusing.