Marina and the Diamonds Quotes

Ain't nobody making music to not be heard and the easiest way to be heard is to be on the radio, but you should never compromise who you are, your values or your morals.

I see myself as a creative being. My only fear is compromising my integrity. I guess that's a constant struggle.

But i think it would drive me more crazy to just go do a movie that I didn't believe in, you know?

I left because I could no longer make records that sounded less and less like me. I tried to please people instead of believing in my own strength, until the only thing I could do was walk away.

The only people who have doubts about the sincerity of my music are people who come to it relatively late, off the back of having seen me in a film. Acting is about being other people, and music is about being myself.

I'm just trying to work out a way to be a singer and to create cool content. I'm willing to do that as an entertainer. But I'm not willing to give up my actual self.

It doesn't matter even if I am slow or fast as long as my films are honest and carries my integrity.

I think as a mature artist, you're probably always trying to undo the compromises of one's self [in general]. It's not necessarily to do with youth.

I would rather die than be a serious artist, or a fake artist.

I'm not saying I wasn't flawed or amateurish. But you can never say I did anything to appease the music business.

Art is uncompromising and life is full of compromises.

I never want to compromise my act just to get a laugh.

I have to live authentically at all times. And that's part of what makes me an artist. I'm not scared to do that.

Lucian Freud's career affirms that the only thing an artist can do is remain true to whatever vision, (lack of) talent, or ideas that happened to pick them in order to be made known to the world.

If you start to just aim for what the audience wants to hear, you're already hamstrung because you don't have any freedom.

I'll bet Shakespeare compromised himself a lot; anybody who's in the entertainment industry does to some extent.

Art is something to be proud of. Art is no compromise.

I'm sick of being self-referential. I don't want to do any more songs that can be accused of being personal.

I think carrying moral baggage is very dangerous for an artist. If you have a duty, it's to be true and not cover up the cracks.

The artist is not responsible to any one. His social role is asocial... his only responsibility consists in an attitude to the work he does.

There's this misconception in the industry that you might have to go a little lighter or skate on the surface in order to reach people - and then in your second album, you get to tell who you are.

Self-censorship is a lie to yourself; if you are going to be trying to seriously create art, to create literary art, and you decide to hold back, to censor yourself, then you are a fool to yourself and it would be better that you kept your mouth shut and did not speak.

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

To maintain one's individuality, integrity, and true personality in the theatre is a big task.

I think you owe it to yourself and you owe it to your status as an artist to be true to who you are.