Quotes About Artistry

I have dedicated a significant portion of my time and artistry to making art that addresses various forms of oppression, including white supremacy, misogyny, and biphobia.

My philosophy is making a movie is difficult enough and I just feel as if you should have a really good time when you do make films whether it's a drama or a comedy.

I wouldn't just have other people write songs and me go out and sing it. I would sit down with a guitar and write 11 or 12 good songs for an album and that is gonna take a long time.

People compared Garden State to the Graduate, but when was the last time you saw Dustin Hoffman doing what I do?

There was always a unique Beirut sound, it was always there, and so this time I just dove straight into that, instead of daydreaming and wandering.

I was always looking outside of myself for stories and ideas and influences and then I kind of realized in 2010, that all of this time, I've developed a "sound." And I've never fully explored it.

For a woman, body image is always a palpable thing. Weirdly, for me, the only time I don't care is when I'm in character.

All good writing is built one good line at a time. You build a novel the same way you do a pyramid. One word, one stone at a time, underneath a full moon while the fingers bleed.

I find myself improvising a lot. But, sometimes I'll come us with a chorus or just one line and it will sort of hang out for a long time before it get's flushed out into a real living song.

Who is Katharine Hepburn? It took me a long time to create that creature.

I mean, there's definitely a difference between film and live performances or live television. But at the same time, it's just performing. No matter what, it's performing.

From the time I wake up until the time I go to bed, music is unfortunately on my mind, on my stereo, or I'm making it or talking about it.

The statement is that I'm not one icon. I'm every icon. I'm an icon that is made out of all the colors on the palette at every time.

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.

We have to make sure the music and the message and the words and all the elements come through in our songs and every time we appear in public.

There are so many songs I've recorded, only to hear other people singing them. It happens all the time.

It just takes a long time for me [to write a song]. I'm very slow. And it comes, kind of, by dribbles and drops.

There is no 'perfect' in music. If I ever came off the stage and felt it could not be better, it would then be time to quit.

I don't think you can spend too much time as an artist believing what other people think.

I'm horrified most of the time. I wish it was more complicated, but at the same time, each time I try to complicate it I hate it because I hate the idea of writing to impress.

Jean-Baptiste Mondino: "She's John Lennon and Yoko Ono at the same time".

I am not going to be dictated to by the size of the camera. I use everything from an 8 x 10 to a 35-mm. But I don't use these modern cameras which break down all the time !

I wish I was making shoes instead of reading or watching movies, which is what I do in my free time.

And much as I enjoy writing and creating stuff, I don't enjoy it so much that I am willing to give up any time that could otherwise be spent performing.