Frank Ocean

“In the studio, we adhere to a strict colour code. Developed over decades, the colour code consists of a finite and precise colour palate... The whole world as we experience it comes to us through the mystic realm of colour.”

“I believe that marriage isn't between a man and woman; but between love and love.”

“I enjoy singing my songs in front of people.”

“This has always been my life and no one else's, and that's how it's always been since the day I came in it.”

“I booked my first studio at like 12 or 13. Somewhere in that season of my life, singing along with the radio became me wanting to be on radio, you know. And writing Langston Hughes replica poems became me wanting to write like Stevie Wonder.”

“I'm not a centerfold.”

“I don't know if I ever told you this before, but you're the only one I ever waited for this long.”

“Here's what I think about music and journalism: The most important thing is to just press play.”

“The Internet is just another experiment showing us more sides of us.”

“Those who are heartless, once cared too much.”

“As long as your intentions are solid and about growth and progression and being productive and not being idle, then you're doing good in my book.”

“When you're happy you enjoy the music, but when you're sad you understand the lyrics.”

“As a writer, as a creator, I'm giving you my experiences. But just take what I give you. You ain't got to pry beyond that.”

“Why see the world / when you got the beach?”

“If someone breaks your heart, just punch them in the face. Seriously. Punch them in the face and go get some ice cream.”

“It's just really about trying to do whatever it is I do at a level of excellence. That's really all I'm trying to do while I'm here.”

“My TV ain't HD, that's too real”

“My music definitely comes from a place of experience. Everything connects to a truth.”

“I worked my face off.”

“Don't feel sad over someone who gave up on you, feel sorry for them because they gave up on someone who would have never given up on them.”

“Sometimes I'm fascinated with how famous my work could be while I'm not so famous.”

“I've always wanted to make a career in the arts, and I think that my only hope at doing that is to make it more about the work.”

“I don't ever want to be caught up in a system of thinking I can do one thing 'cos that's just... that's just telling yourself a lie.”

“I make pop culture.”

“Each individual's success as a solo artist is pretty much a win for the whole team.”

“I know that we sin but I do believe we try, we all try.”

“Super-envious of the fact that Daft Punk can wear robot helmets and be one of the most famous bands in the world, while also understanding that will never be my situation.”

“I never think about myself as an artist working in this time. I think about it in macro.”

“I wrote 'Channel Orange' in two weeks. The end product wasn't always that gritty, real-life depiction of the real struggle that happened.”

“When I was growing up, there was nobody in my family - not even my mother - who I could look to and be like, 'I know you've never said anything homophobic.' So, you know, you worry about people in the business who you've heard talk that way. Some of my heroes coming up talk recklessly like that.”

“I respect Drake not only as a creative person but as a business mind as well. I think Drake's important.”

“I don't have any secrets I need kept any more.”

“Sometimes, I want to talk on a song and be angry, because I am angry. Then there's always a part of me that remembers that this record lives past my being angry, and so do I really want to be angry about that? Is that feeling going to have longevity?”

“Some people focus more on sonics. Some people focus more on story. I focus on both sonics and story.”

“You can't think. You just have to do things.”

“I've gotten used to being Frank Ocean.”

“I had writer's block for almost a year.”

“The first four and a half years was me in the studio every day, writing songs for other people. I had jobs, too - eleven jobs. I worked at Kinko's, Fatburger, Subway - I was a sandwich artist - and I was a claims processor at Allstate Insurance.”

“It's more interesting for me to figure out how to be superior in areas where I'm naive, where I'm a novice.”

“Never run back to what broke you.”

“I'm about being the best.”

“We were poor. But my mom never accepted that. She worked hard to become a residential contractor - got her master's with honors at the University of New Orleans. I used to go to every class with her. Her father was my paternal figure.”

“People are just afraid of things too much … Sure, evil exists, extremism exists. Somebody could commit a hate crime and hurt me. But they could do the same just because I'm black. They could do the same just because I'm American.”

“Because I'm not in a record deal, I don't have to operate in an album format.”

“I might just write a novel next. I don't know!”

“I've written some great things. That's a gift, but there's consequences. Yeah, you get this great work, but you suffer. You really, really suffer.”

“Some people focus more on sonics. Some people focus more on story. I focus on both sonics and story, but music sometimes, just music itself, can turn into more of a maths problem. I guess everything in life is a math problem, but it can be more about an empirical route to getting the symmetry that you want, and this vibe, sonically.”

“I want to thank The Beatles for almost single-handedly getting me out of writer's block.”

“I like the anonymity that directors can have about their films.”

“Just remember; someone loves everything you hate about yourself.”