El-P Quotes

I have a dreadful fear that the more you try to prevent revealing the self, the more you do.

I mean, my stand-up is very honest and exposing in this way. I probably carry that into everything I do.

Really, as a writer, I believe that if you're going to write about your own life, you need to do it as honestly and candidly as you are capable.

I have a hard time not wearing my heart on my sleeve and answering people honestly. You know, my friends warn me that I should be more guarded 'cause sometimes I am too honest and open, but it's also just who I am.

I feel it's much easier to be honest or be myself in songs when I'm playing. That's why I felt, 'You know, I'm going to write the truth.'

I love being uncomfortable. I love feeling very revealed. And when I watch a piece of work that I've done, I'm actually looking for that. How naked is this character? How truthful is this character? If it's truthful, there's automatically a separation.

My whole act is confession.

I think the currency of leadership is transparency. You've got to be truthful. I don't think you should be vulnerable every day, but there are moments where you've got to share your soul and conscience with people and show them who you are, and not be afraid of it.

In the past, I've been reluctant to share any bits of truth about myself or to really let people in on my reality. So I have said some things to throw people off the scent of what's really going on in my life. So I have sort of aided the media in printing these misconceptions, which I regret.

The only problems I've ever had with being honest is telling people how I feel about them or saying how I feel about other people.

Although I know it's unfair I reveal myself one mask at a time.

There are things to confess that enrich the world, and things that need not be said.

I find talking about my work harder than it might be if honesty wasn't my calling card.

I'd rather tell you how I really feel.

If you write something that's personal, there's going to be elements of yourself in it.

I would say critically of myself that I am somebody without secrets. Sometimes acting depends on you having a secret. I don't think I've ever had that.

I'm not afraid to be bluntly honest in my songs, even if it means I'm discovering things about myself that I'd rather not.

My life has been an open book, for better or for worse.

I write to be truthful in my songs, which is why I wrote what's painfully truthful about my life in my autobiography.

Anytime you work with materials that are deep parts of yourself, you feel revulsion at showing things about yourself that you don't want people to know.

Everything I write is highly personal, but put in such a way that it's not dropping everything in someone's lap. Although sometimes I think 'The Taxi Ride' embarrasses me, because sometimes I think it's too close.

I've learned that to expose yourself, to reveal yourself is a test of your humanness.

I'm self-deprecating, but I'm an artist, too. I have to write new songs to chronicle stuff for myself. I write a song like 'Middle Age' or 'Responsibility' or 'I Just Work Here,' and it's about how bleak life can be. But it's real.

I feel like my secret magic trick that separates me from a lot of my peers is the bravery to be vulnerable and truthful and honest.

The art of life is to show your hand.