Munira Mirza Quotes

Art can be engaged in the world without being specifically politically engaged.

So ultimately, it's idealistic to think that artists are able to step away from the power of the media and the way it controls things, and go on doing their own things.

Governmental aid is a drawback rather than an assistance, as, although it may facilitate in the routine of artistic production, it is an impediment to the development of true artistic genius.

You don't always just have to do an indie movie to feel like you're controlling it with a few people that you really have connected with, creatively. You can do it on a bigger scale.

As a novelist, you have to be free. Books can't be an act of filial duty.

People must insist on the right to say no, to be alone, to stand out from the herd. Creative artists can say all this in their own way and in their own field, by hard, rigorous work.

I don't do commissions and I like the freedom to create what my heart or mind tells me to.

Every new writing project, every new artistic project, needs to be protected so it can grow on its own before it begins to creep out into the world.

It was important that I got my own voice out there in the world. I'd used it on other people's films, collaborated, and I thought, 'You know, I can do this myself.' That was more important than anything else.

Allow the artist to finish the piece of work before you critique it.

I've never worked for a show or was on a show where I didn't have a lot of control creatively, but then again, I haven't worked on a lot of shows.

I am a poet; I am not a worker. I need to be free.

Art never harms itself by keeping aloof from the social problems of the day: rather, by so doing, it more completely realises for us that which we desire.

Art is something that grows and breathes and lives, and it shouldn't be predicated on the success of box office - but it is. But within that, you have to give people a chance to find their voice, to play, to continue to create.

One of the worst things that can happen to an artist is to perceive himself as the owner of his art, and art as his tool. A product of the marketplace sensibility, this attitude barely differs on a psychological plane from the patron's view of the artist as a paid employee.

I tried playing for the public, and I selected music that I thought would be pleasing to them. Times are different now. Today, I play the music I want, and I just try to do my best.

Political consequences have never really come into my thinking. I didn't think about it when we made 'Maurice' or when I said first I would co-direct and then write the screenplay of 'Call Me'. I was just making something I thought I would enjoy creating.

Every now and then, as a composer and producer, it's important to write music for yourself.

I want to be my own artist and reflect my creativity.. I don't want to be turned into a pop princess; that's not who I am.

Even myself, I believe that as an artist I should pursue more independent activities. If more artists believe in this and are active about it, they will be able to accomplish more on their own, without the influence of entertainment labels.

As an independent artist, you control the means of production, which is the ultimate form of empowerment.

I love this freedom that has been given to me as an artist to express myself.

Basically I just had to say, 'Screw everyone around me - from now on I'm just gonna play what I think is important to me and our music.' So I gave the big finger to all the current trends in technical wizardry, and just went off and did what I felt was best for the songs.

If we pretend to respect the artist at all we must allow him his freedom of choice , in the face, in particular cases, of innumerable presumptions that the choice will not fructify.

There is a desperate tendency to try to legislate artists, to try to lay down rules for their obligations to society. Just leave artists alone. If you are a true artist, you will have a very finely tuned moral mechanism.