Zadie Smith Quotes

Perhaps one would be wise when young even to avoid thinking of oneself as a writer - for there's something a little stopped and satisfied, too healthy, in that. Better to think of writing, of what one does as an activity, rather than an identity - to write, I write; we write; to keep the calling a verb rather than a noun; to keep working at the thing, at all hours, in all places, so that your life does not become a pose, a pornography of wishing.

There is a part of me in every character, naturally. That's why novelists rarely write good autobiographies. You start one and it becomes another novel.

I continue to write. It's just one of those things that I do. I'll have periods when I write and periods when I don't. But you don't want it to become a discipline really. If it becomes a discipline, it becomes a chore and that's no good.

You know how they say, "Find your voice"? That's your voice, in your pajamas. And it doesn't mean that you're going to publish it or print it or people are going to see you in your pajamas. It just means you are going to construct the foundation in your pajamas, in that voice.

When one wants to write, one writes. If one is condemned to write, one writes.

If you're writing on your own, each character is just you. It's just you.

If what you want to do is write, then it's madness not to do it.

In modern novels I try to not let myself get away and to be here, and that's why I write about my life and myself. But even when I do that there's an element of disappearing to a place that's not me. It's "the selflessness of writing". It seldom happens, but when it does it's worth quite a lot.

Your first book is the only one that matters. Perhaps a writer should write only that one. That is the one moment when you make the big leap; the opportunity to express yourself is offered that once, and you untie the knot within you then or never again.

To me, punk rock is the freedom to create, freedom to be successful, freedom to not be successful, freedom to be who you are. It's freedom.

Being an actor, you are recognized for being somebody else, whereas these books are distilled from me.

You have to work with what you are given, even in Shakespeare. we have our form and it is important that we free ourselves through it.

You rarely, in the professional world, have the chance to express yourself as an individual.

I don't think I'm making any great statements, and I certainly don't think I'm making art.

All artists are now free to express their own personality.

There's no rule that says you have to make records constantly, like clockwork, to continue being who you are.

Do I have a small movie in me? Yeah, probably, when I'm 60. But I'm not Hal Ashby, I'm not Roman Polanski. I'm true to myself. Whether you like it or not.

I always write about what interests me.

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

Sometimes I would write something that was so private, people would say, 'Make it more universal.' I never liked that idea. I always thought the more personal a song was, the more people would want to hear it.

I'd rather just be who I am and get the kind of movies that I want or the kind of modeling jobs I want based on who I am, really.

And I feel that it's inevitable that the work that I do will reflect the life that I live. And the life I live feels very diverse.

I play a certain style. I'm not willing to compromise that part of me.

I felt like when you're an actor, you don't get to fully creatively express yourself - most of the time, it's not your own writing or direction.

This music really is us. We're not, like, a manufactured version.