Frank Ocean Quotes

“The work is the work. The work is not me. I like the anonymity that directors can have about their films. Even though it's my voice, I'm a storyteller.”

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

“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.”

“What do you think my brain is made for?Is it just a container for the mind?This great grey matter,Sensei replied what is your woman,Is she just a container for the child?That soft pink matter”

“As a man I am not a killer. I’m an artist and a modern person. I’ll choose sanity.”

“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.”

“With my art, it's the one thing that I know will outlive me and outlive my feelings. It will outlive my depressive seasons.”

“The idea of recognizing your strengths and using them in as versatile a way as you can is cool to me.”

“I guess I'm just inspired to tell stories.”

“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?”

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

“It's cool to be recognised by your peers.”

“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.”

“Distance sometimes lets you know who's worth keeping and who's worth letting go.”

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

“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.”

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

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

“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.”

“We all know we have a finite period of time. I just feel if I'm going to be alive, I want to be challenged - to be as immortal as possible. The path to that isn't an easy way, but it's a rewarding way.”

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

“I'm in this business to be creative - I'll even diminish it and say to be a content provider.”

“I have no delusions about my likability in every scenario. I know that in order to get things done the way you want them, oftentimes your position will be unpopular.”

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

“I won't touch on risky, because that's subjective. People are just afraid of things too much. Afraid of things that don't necessarily merit fear.”