Flannery O'Connor Quotes

Controversial means somebody who makes people think. And if you are afraid of people who will be against you, you might as well stay home and do nothing.

I'm willing to go further than other people on camera.

I think some people enjoy that I say things that upset or shake up people.

I decided to make one of the most controversial songs that I could. I want to get under people's skin.

Follow the path of the unsafe, independent thinker. Expose your ideas to the dangers of controversy. Speak your mind and fear less the label of 'crackpot' than the stigma of conformity. And on issues that seem important to you, stand up and be counted at any cost.

I cannot shy away from controversy. I don't know if it's my Irish blood, but I love it.

And as a writer, one of the things that I've always been interested in doing is actually invading your comfort space. Because that's what we're supposed to do. Get under your skin, and make you react.

I feel like people either love me or hate me, which is good, because that was the point of what I do. The point of M.I.A. is to be - it's either to be loved or hated. At least you evoke that much of a strong opinion about music.

There's always opposition when you do something big. I do many things that are controversial. When people see it, they love it!

I don't shy from controversy. I'm telling stories, and I'll tell whatever story seems like it wants to be told.

I think if you're not offending somebody somewhere, then your show is probably just very bland and boring.

As you may possibly have noticed from time to time, I have tended to make a habit of sticking my head above the parapet and generally getting it shot off for pointing out what has always been blindingly obvious to me.

Nobody has yet proven that taking a chance and doing something unique that an audience isn't used to is a bad idea. What the theater lacks is that kind of courage.

An idea that is not dangerous is unworthy of being called an idea at all.

Movies should make people uncomfortable sometimes.

I think for writers, I think it's really important to court eviction from your tribe: to expose things and to wake people up. And so I think that that can feel like a violation to the people you love the most.

I have always stuck my neck out on policy issues.

From day one, we've always gotten backlash for certain outlandish ideas that we've had and presented. That's also kind of been the driving force that's pushed us forward.

I can't be interesting, controversial, and the writer I'd like to be if I need everybody to like me and think I'm doing the right thing, because those two things, in my experience, never go hand in hand.

I'm not afraid to have a really weird idea or, you know, take a really bad guitar solo.

Free men stick their necks out.

To laugh is to risk appearing a fool. To weep is to risk appearing sentimental. To reach out to another is to risk involvement. To expose feelings is to risk exposing your true self. To place your ideas and dreams before a crowd is to risk their loss. To love is to risk not being loved in return. To hope is to risk pain. To try is to risk failure. But risks must be taken, because the greatest hazard in life is to risk nothing.

speculation is carried on in safety, but, when it comes to action, fear causes failure.

It takes a touch of genius - and a lot of courage to move in the opposite direction.

The fact that people are shocked is the best proof that they need shocking.