Ursula K. Le Guin Quotes

I had a sense of who I was before I got famous.

I understand that when people read my books that there's something there - but I don't identify with it.

People expect it to be easy because there you are, out there, doing the thing that you want and making lots of money out of it. But, you know, I'm not that smooth. I can get clumsy around certain people. Like if I were to sit down and think, 'OK, I'm really famous, how am I going to conduct myself in public?' I wouldn't know who that person would be! It would be a lot easier if I could, but I can't.

Just keep putting out music. Don't think whether it's a hit or not and people will get you.

First of all, I'm not a heartthrob. If you saw me in high school, you wouldn't say I'm a heartthrob. Having a hit song, the minute you're famous, you're a heartthrob. I know you don't believe me, but I honestly don't consider myself a heartthrob.

Ice Cube is the piece of me that I give away to the public.

I had my autograph down by the age of 13. I used to sign it everywhere.

If I start to become a star, I'll lose contact with the normal guys I play best.

People know me, and want to know me, as a baller more than anything else.

I always think I'm the Tom Cruise of music - a lot of success and fans, but no critics, darling.

My name is real, which probably explains why I never became a superstar... how would that look in lights?

If you just want to be a star, go away.

I would love to make my music and be completely anonymous, but that doesn't work. You can't have success and be faceless.

If you look at yourself as a star, you've already lost something in the portrayal of any human being.

I try not to focus on fame; I don't even really know what it means exactly because it's so fleeting.

If you go to Hollywood, you've already sold out.

You're only famous in the eyes of others. Inside, you're still the same, and not a hundred million records or TV shows can change that. I think the only pitfall of fame is believing that it means something, and behaving like that.

Who decides what is and what isn't punk? I want to write songs that people hear and feel, and I want to be successful and reach a big audience. I'm not trying to be the coolest guy in the world; I'm trying to write songs that mean something to people. As you get successful, sometimes you lose one set of fans and gain another.

I don't go to work thinking, 'Right, I'm going to be more heart-throbby today.'

You have to have a certain persona to be a star, you know, and I don't have that. I'm a banana.

I didn't come to Hollywood. Hollywood came to me. A lot of people wish they could say the things I say. Everyone out here is so phony, it's sickening.

That's a funny thing, fame. People definitely do treat you differently. When you begin to be successful, people say, 'Don't go changing.' Well, that's easy to say, but the fact is, you don't change at all - other people do.

It's true I'm more widely recognised now and get invited to take part in all sorts of events and projects but as a person, I haven't changed.

I'm not trying to become popular.

A life without fame can be a good life, but fame without a life is no life at all.