Dedication to Art Quotes

I feel like I have a lot of dedication to the acting profession.

I'm not going to do anything that will damage my voice because my voice is my career and singing is my passion. I was singing in the cot and I'll still be singing when they're nailing down my coffin.

I've had a love affair with every movie I've ever done.

When I started acting, I had a really strong discipline of knowing that you had to be on time, knowing that you had to work 12 to 16 hours a day, knowing you had to be prepared, knowing you had to be ready, and it's very interesting because if you're an artist and you're creating, you can work very, very long hours but as you're putting out that love of creation, it's almost like you're charged by it, you're charged by the process of it.

If you really love acting, you'll want to act. That's what I did. You don't look for any payday because the likelihood of a payday is slim to none.

The artists must be sacrificed to their art. Like the bees, they must put their lives into the sting they give.

I knew from the age of five what I wanted to do. The one thing I could do was draw. I couldn't draw that much better than some of the other kids, but I cared more and I wanted it badly.

At times, I think, 'What would I rather be doing than music?' That's what you have to ask yourself, if you feel like you need to be somewhere else... But there's nothing else I want to do more than music. That's why I stay in the booth.

I feel like a person who has dedicated her whole life to the music she loves.

Strangely enough, through all those school years I decided at 13 or 14 I was going to be a musician and so school was just something to get out of the way, a waste of time and not to bother with it.

I'm sure my mum was a huge influence on my wanting to be an actress: just seeing her doing it, seeing her love it, caring about it. Invest in something, take it seriously and be so wonderful.

Great artists suffer for the people.

Denzel's all about the work. He's all about the acting. He's an actor. He'll tell you himself, 'I'm not a movie star, celebrity, something else. I'm an actor.' He steps on a set, that's what he is, and that's what he gives you. He gives his heart.

There's a time and place for everything, and my focus is music. So that's what I prefer to spend most of my time doing, and not talk about making music.

I have so much respect for television actors and directors. We're on set doing 16-hour days, and that's just what we do.

If I wanted to play the violin, I had to work. Because anything that one wants to do really, and one loves doing, one must do everyday. It should be as easy to the artist and as natural as flying is to a bird. And you can’t imagine a bird saying well, I’m tired today, I’m not going to fly!

Nothing's going to keep me from making music. If I were in the want-ads in the back of the paper or playing to six people at a coffee shop, I'd still love to make music.

Before I do a movie, I watch Meryl Streep movies over and over. It's not to mimic her. It's to remind myself to be more committed.

I make films from the heart. I want to concentrate on the job of doing great and honest performances, and I'm gonna get better with every performance of mine, with every film of mine.

I've always been shy, but I see that as a good thing because it kept me focused on music. When I was in seventh grade, I asked my parents for a mobile recording system for Christmas, and I got it. I didn't come out of my room for years after that. I'd get invited to the movies and I'd say, 'I'm gonna finish a couple of demos.'

A true artist is practically married to his or her art form so I just couldn't turn my back on it.

During the years I was with Andy Kirk we starved almost. I remember not eating for practically a month several times. But we were very, very happy because the music was so interesting, and you forgot to eat, anyway.

Make some sacrifice for your art and you will be repaid, but ask of art to sacrifice herself for you and a bitter disappointment may come to you.

When you are a real artist who is serious about your craft, you love good music. Period.

No one can be a painter unless he cares for painting above all else.