David Friedman Quotes

I always write the pieces I want to write.

I don't want people to just hand me music and be like, 'Here, you sound good on this. Sing it.' I want to be able to say, 'This is me.'

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

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

I never do anything to strictly satisfy a fickle, ever-changing commercial world. I do the music I like to play. It's the only way I feel comfortable existing in the industry.

I've never been one to sit back and go, 'I'd better do what the audience wants me to do, because I don't want to lose them.'

When I make movies, I don't ever go out there to please anyone other than myself. I never try to make a film for the masses. I just try to tell my story.

I think the moment you start trying to please a fan base is when you start going downhill. I'm going to always, always write about what I want, even if it doesn't necessarily cater to most of them.

I write my own songs. I made my own videos. I pick my producers. Nothing goes out without my permission. It's all authentic.

I write about what interests me. It's very dangerous when you try to satisfy an audience.

I write what I write.

If I knew anything about what people wanted and was popular, I'd still be writing for 'Saturday Night Live'. I can only write what I want, and hopefully people will like it.

I will not let my sales figures dictate what I say on the blog, because the blog is what I want to say.

One of my life philosophies is that you have a choice to make when you're doing something creative. You can be cheesy... or you can be lame.

I love anybody who's willing to stick to their own vision, their own voice, who's not easily swayed by money or by financers who are going to tell them what they should do.

I write the novels that are possible for me to write, not that ones I think will come across in a certain light.

I can only say that I myself wrote always as I wished, without a tremendous desire to find the latest thing possible.

I've had a lot of voices tell me what I should be making. Personally, I would much rather live and die by my own hand. If my stuff sucks, then at least I made it suck. I didn't allow some person, some old dude in a suit, to make it suck for me.

If I'm going to put my image into something, I'll put my image into something that I actually feel like I'd like to do.

I'm not afraid of a big studio film; I trust my instincts. But for me, it's not really about box office. It's about looking back on your work and not having to apologize for it.

You should do the sound that you want and not what others want.

I'm not trying to appeal to anybody. I just try to do my thing and make the best music I can make.

I've never said anything that I didn't want to say on a record, ever.

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

We only do what we think is good and what we're happy with. I do that in stand-up, I even do it with my children's books. I don't do market research, I don't have focus groups, I don't care. I don't care if it fails, honestly. I'd rather have something that's completely mine fail than something succeed that I'm not proud of.