Jordan Peele Quotes

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.

The rule I stand by as an artist is definitely be yourself, and don't make music just for other people: make it for you first.

I feel like the point of being an artist is to have your own voice: to do it the way you would do it and not the way anyone else would do it. If you're a strong enough writer, then that voice is going to come out all the time, and I can't stop it from coming out, no matter what I do.

Don't write your books for people who won't like them. Give yourself wholly to the kind of book you want to write, and don't try to please readers who like something different.

I make movies I want to see.

I'm not an artist who has an agenda that's set by the work.

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

I can only do music if I can do it the way I can do it.

It's really tough to make a name for yourself without compromising and without fitting yourself into a real specific mold. When I made the choice that I would be involved in every aspect of music and not necessarily make music for radio or MTV, I was saying, 'OK, this is me. You decide who it is.'

If I can't make the kind of film that I want to make, then the hell with it.

The less attention I pay to what people want and the more attention I pay to just writing the book I want to write, the better I do.

My greatest achievement is being able to write records that are real snapshots of what's going on in my life. I won't repeat myself for the sake of commerce, or to please other people.

The way I look at a solo project is, I create what I want with whoever I want.

Find your own specific voice in filmmaking and go for it. Either people will get it or they won't and that's what it's all about.

My music is going to be true. I'm not out to sell records. I'm experiencing something, and it's what I feel.

The most honest form of filmmaking is to make a film for yourself.

I always make music that is true to my spirit.

When I write a book... it's the same essential approach to music as with books. It has to be something I want to hear or read. Hopefully the audience comes along, since that's the only way you can write righteously. I have to ask, 'What do I want to hear?' not 'What do people want to hear?'

First and foremost, you have to make the movie for yourself. And that's not to say, to hell with everyone else, but what else have you got to go on but your own taste and judgment?

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'm always looking for a reason to say no when I'm approached about a big studio tentpole because your fear is will you be consumed into the anonymous machine, and it will suck out any specificity and point of view that you might hope to express.

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.

It's good to please the network, but you really just have to tell the stories you want to tell, and if you try to please other people, it ends up starting to water stuff down. Those decisions we have to make are hard, but we usually just err on the side of 'What would we want to see?'

I never wanted to be a feature - that was never the goal with my music. I didn't want to just live through other people's work.