Quotes from Hugh Macleod
Nobody can tell you if what you're doing is good, meaningful or worthwhile. The more compelling the path, the more lonely it is.
—Hugh Macleod
It's about what YOU are going to do with the short time you have left on this earth.
—Hugh Macleod
If you have something to say, then say it. If not, enjoy the silence while it lasts. The noise will return soon enough. In the meantime, you%uFFFDre better off going out into the big, wide world, having some adventures and refilling your well. Trying to create when you don%uFFFDt feel like it is like making conversation for the sake of making conversation.
—Hugh Macleod
The creative person basically has two kinds of jobs: One is the sexy, creative kind. Second is the kind that pays the bills. Sometimes the task in hand covers both bases, but not often. This tense duality will always play center stage. It will never be transcended.
—Hugh Macleod
Part of being creative is learning how to protect your freedom. That includes freedom from avarice.
—Hugh Macleod
Everybody is too busy with their own lives to give a damn about your book, painting, screenplay etc, especially if you haven't sold it yet. And the ones that aren't, you don't want in your life anyway.
—Hugh Macleod
When I see somebody 'suffering for their art', it%uFFFDs usually a case of them not knowing where that red line is, not knowing where the sovereignty lies.
—Hugh Macleod
Diluting your product to make it more 'commercial' will just make people like it less.
—Hugh Macleod
The first rule of business, is never sell something you love. Otherwise, you may as well be selling your children.
—Hugh Macleod
If you're creative, if you can think independently, if you can articulate passion, if you can override the fear of being wrong, then your company needs you now more than it ever did. And now your company can no longer afford to pretend that isn't the case.
—Hugh Macleod
Question how much freedom your path affords you. Be utterly ruthless about it./ It's your freedom that will get you to where you want to go.
—Hugh Macleod
The bars of West Hollywood and New York are awash with people throwing their lives away in the desperate hope of finding a shortcut, any shortcut. And a lot of them aren't even young anymore; their B-plans having been washed away by Vodka & Tonics years ago./ Meanwhile their competition is at home, working their asses off.
—Hugh Macleod
The old ways are dead. And you need people around you who concur./ That means hanging out more with the creative people, the freaks, the real visionaries, than you're already doing. Thinking more about what their needs are, and responding accordingly. Avoid the dullards; avoid the folk who play it safe. They can't help you any more. Their stability model no longer offers that much stability. They are extinct, they are extinction.
—Hugh Macleod
Part of being a Master is learning how to sing in nobody else's voice but your own.
—Hugh Macleod
Art suffers the moment other people start paying for it. The more you need the money, the more people will tell you what to do. The less control you will have. The more bullshit you will have to swallow. The less joy it will bring. Know this and plan accordingly.
—Hugh Macleod