Kathleen Hanna Quotes

My greatest achievement is being able to write records that are real snapshots of what's going on in my life. I won't repeat myself for the sake of commerce, or to please other people.

I wanted to create a body of work that I was proud of. It's come from honesty and integrity, without forcing anything from myself, the ideas had to come instinctively and organically. Whether that translates to people in that way, it's kind of out of my hands now.

I can never think about, 'Is this going to sell? Is this going to work on radio?' I just have to get in the zone where I'm like, 'Do I love this, or do I not love this?' Essentially it all comes down to that.

I don't write anything down - it comes from my head and my soul and my heart and my pain. That allows me to make the best music I can make.

I just follow what inspires me as an artist and a storyteller, and stay true to myself in my work.

Everything I've written is personal - it's the only way I know how to write.

I don't think songs have to be like these super-#1-smash-hit-sounding songs, because I think it's more important that it's like, 'Hey! This is coming out of me. This is something I connect with. This is something that I like to sing.'

I like to pretend that my art has nothing to do with me.

A painter's tastes must grow out of what so obsesses him in life that he never has to ask himself what it is suitable for him to do in art.

I think there's always this idea in your head, but you have to allow the film to take its own course.

I always try to put something personal on my albums just to give people out there a little piece of my history and how I got where I am and who I am.

Great artists are people who find the way to be themselves in their art. Any sort of pretension induces mediocrity in art and life alike.

I never really thought about my music being universal. When I set out to write, it was just a feeling that felt good to me. I never thought about being able to reach everybody.

My music is not just about entertainment. It is about enlightenment also.

I started writing songs by myself. That always came from whatever I was feeling and being honest about that because I never had any intention of anyone ever hearing them.

Songwriting is such an intricate part of me as an artist and as a person; I couldn't just let someone else do it.

When I left the Royal College, I decided I would only make paintings that I would want to look at myself, that felt close to my life.

Putting out commercial pieces and promoting them and trying to sell them to people is not necessarily what it means to be an artist.

My work is intensely personal.

The most important thing for me as an artist is having an identity.

Rather than trying to create an audience, just try and create music that feels good to you.

The thing is, about a character, it's not about being right, it's about the truth. The truth comes from within, so you have to search as an artist for the truth.

When you write a song, you don't ask if it's good or not, or if it's gonna sell. When you write a song, you ask whether you've reached deep inside your heart and whether it's honest.

The way I write my songs is that I have to believe what I'm writing about, and that's why they always end up being so personal - because the kind of artists I like, they convince me, they totally win me over straight away in that thing. Like, 'Oh my God, this song is totally about me.'

When I work on my own stuff - and I think this is true for anybody - but when you work on something that you just completely own, you are trying to stay as true to your own storytelling voice as you can.