Ken Liu Quotes

I'd just like to inspire people to be themselves and do what they want and not conform to the rigid guidelines of the music or entertainment business.

As an artist, you need to be true to yourself and free and not put yourself in a box that contradicts with what you feel is needed for a song.

I feel like the point of being an artist is to have your own voice: to do it the way you would do it and not the way anyone else would do it. If you're a strong enough writer, then that voice is going to come out all the time, and I can't stop it from coming out, no matter what I do.

I have my own voice and can focus only on that. I know what I like; I find my inspirations in so many other places than just online and bring that into my work.

I love to write. I used to be a math teacher. And I like the idea that other people could write about the same subjects, but no one would write it just the way I do. It's very individual: a child could write the same story as somebody else, but it wouldn't come out the same.

The whole point in developing your own style is to find your own voice.

Many people say to me, particularly about my dance writing, 'It sounds just like you.' But it sounds just like me after I've made it sound like me.

An artist must never be a prisoner. Prisoner? An artist should never be a prisoner of himself, prisoner of style, prisoner of reputation, prisoner of success, etc.

I like that the art world isn't regulated.

The fact that I could sing in a way that might not be right for RADA but is right for me was a brand-new concept.

Artists are traditionally resistant to labels.

There's no wrong way of doing art. It's an expression of the individual.

I have my own language and it's high time I put a little of it out there.

People often say, 'You don't go to fashion shows? What kind of photographer are you? What the hell is the wrong with you, man?' But that's what I need in order to be who I am.

I'm now able to show who I am as an artist.

That's the thing about creating. When you create, you create your own thing, whatever that is. It's always going to seep through in whatever you do.

I think I have kind of have the same mind-set that Kanye West has. He just likes to do his thing.

My music is not like everybody gonna love it, it's really what I make of it.

Don't worry about trying to develop a style. Style is what you can't help doing. If you write enough, you draw enough, you'll have a style, whether you want it or not. Don't worry about whether you're "commercial". Tell your own stories, draw your own pictures. Let other people follow you.

I am an artist who's just tryin' to do something different, and basically not caring about everybody's opinions and wanting to follow what everybody else is doing. At the same time, I know when to be serious, but I know when to joke.

Music is such an intensely personal thing for me, and I knew if I was going to do it, it would be in my own way.

What I aspire to do, and what I try the hardest to do, is write stuff that's very personal in its way. I figure I can only say things the way I say them, so I'm trying to do something that is kind of anti-generic.

It does not matter how badly you paint so long as you don't paint badly like other people.

I've been surrounded by women my whole life, so obviously I love fashion... But I'd like to do my own thing and focus on what I love. If people accept it, they accept it. If they don't, they don't.

Art school had taught me it was far better to be a flamboyant failure than any kind of benign success.