Artist Quotes

I think it's shameful when you sell out. It depends what kind of artist you wanna be, but I don't want my name anywhere near another brand.

People ask me who is my favorite country artist. I say, you mean besides George Jones.

I'm kind of hooked to the game of art and literature; my heroes are artists and writers.

I know I'm not the greatest singer or dancer, but that doesn't interest me, I'm interested in being provocative and pushing people's buttons.

I don't think that there's much that sets me apart from other musicians, but I think there are definitely things that set me apart from other kinds of artists.

You can be the most artistically perfect performer in the world, but an audience is like a broad - if you're indifferent, Endsville.

I don't see myself in terms of artifice. I see myself as a real person who chooses to live my life in an open way - artistically.

I don't call myself a poet, because I don't like the word. I'm a trapeze artist.

You don't necessarily have to write to be a poet. Some people work in gas stations and they're poets. I don't call myself a poet because I don't like the word. I'm a trapeze artist.

I think of myself as a song-and-dance man.

I paint mostly from real life. It has to start with that. Real people, real street scenes, behind the curtain scenes, live models, paintings, photographs, staged setups, architecture, grids, graphic design. Whatever it takes to make it work.

An artist has gotta be careful never really to arrive at a place where he thinks he's at somewhere. You always have to realize that you're constantly in a state of becoming.

A BIG PART OF SONGWRITING, like all writing, is editing-distilling thought down to essentials. Novice writers often hide behind filigree. In many cases the artistry is in what is unsaid. As the old saying goes, an iceberg moves gracefully because most of it is beneath the surface.

Not 'I don't give a f-' to just be reckless and do whatever, but 'I don't give a f- what they say.' ... I know who I am and what I'm doing in my life and what I've accomplished and continue to accomplish as a performer, as a writer, as an artist, as a person, as a human being. I'm happy with the man I'm becoming.

I am in deep shock. I have lost a beloved friend [George Michael] - the kindest, most generous soul and a brilliant artist. My heart goes out to his family and all of his fans.

It's sort of like my past is an unfinished painting, and as the artist of that painting, I must fill in all the ugly holes and make it beautiful again.

I think that fashion and music go hand-in-hand, and they always should. It's the artist's job to create imagery that matches the music. I think they're very intertwined.

Knowing that I inspired SAM SMITH is one of the most powerful experiences I've had as an artist. I was Sam. I still am Sam.

Unless I am both capable of and willing to reopen the wound every time I write a song, if I choose to not look inside myself to write music, I'm really not worth being called an artist at all.

My work as an artist is completely separate from my work as a philanthropist.