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Benjamin Clementine Quotes

Powerful Benjamin Clementine for Daily Growth

I clearly remember my father cutting our jumpers and our sports clothes with scissors - because he didn't want us to wear jogging bottoms and hoodies. He thought that would somehow set the police on us.

- Benjamin Clementine

Father, Thought, Wear, Jogging

I dedicate all my time to music. And I'm glad that it's paying off in some ways.

- Benjamin Clementine

Some, Off, Dedicate, All My Time

Poetry itself is music. I'm just lucky that I can convert it into music. William Blake is my favorite poet of all time, and he said that he wasn't quite familiar with the sounds of music. If so, he would have been a musician. All of his poems are all like songs, and that's how I always try to start my thoughts.

- Benjamin Clementine

Lucky, I Can, Been, Convert

If I weren't musical, then I would have just published a book, you know? But I'm lucky enough to play piano, and so I use piano to convert my poems.

- Benjamin Clementine

Play, Lucky, Musical, Convert

If I win the Mercury Prize, I'll be very honoured. If I don't win it, I won't have lost it. Someone else will have won it. And that will also be good.

- Benjamin Clementine

Will, Very, Mercury, Honoured

I personally wouldn't want my second album to sound like my first; it might sound very rocky or hard rock - and that wouldn't be melancholy. So if people think my music is melancholic, then so be it. It's meant to be uplifting, and I'm just basically saying what needs to be said.

- Benjamin Clementine

Sound, Very, Rocky, Hard Rock

Music is the reason I started talking to people. When I started singing in bars and trains, I began to learn the behaviour of people. Music was the bait that helped me get something from them and give myself to them.

- Benjamin Clementine

Singing, Reason, Give, Bait

I'm from a middle class family, but my father squandered all the money, so I didn't really run around with rich people.

- Benjamin Clementine

Father, Middle, Rich People, Class Family

I would describe myself as outspoken. Not political. Outspoken about what I want to say. There are things that need to be said... and I think it's my obligation to say them.

- Benjamin Clementine

Think, Need, I Think, Outspoken

If I'm being forced to do something I don't want to do, my real self comes out. But whether or not I'm aware of it, no matter what happens, I'm always going to have a fake self, and I'm not going to judge my fake self.

- Benjamin Clementine

Always, Going, Forced, Real Self

When I think about Edmonton, Silver Street and Pymmes Park, the old people whose faces are so unhappy, it pushes me to be better. I want to be better to help places like this.

- Benjamin Clementine

I Think, About, Pushes, Old People

In this life, I've learned to be patient. And I'm still learning... Even now, I wish things would go quicker.

- Benjamin Clementine

I Wish, Still, Learned, Be Patient

The fact is, it wasn't enjoyable being in secondary school. I was a weird kid.

- Benjamin Clementine

Weird, Fact, Enjoyable, Secondary

Studying music involves a lot of mathematics and a lot of exercises of memory. Or you've got to be able to be like somebody, to play like somebody, to play Mozart's music the way he played it and how he intended it. You've got to make it perfect, and that's not what I want to do. Although it is beautiful.

- Benjamin Clementine

Memory, Play, Perfect, Mozart

I'm from London, and you hardly see stars because of the pollution of light. But in Arizona, there's nothing, so I can see the stars.

- Benjamin Clementine

London, Nothing, Arizona, Hardly

The meaning of love is obviously huge - but for me, it means be nice to people, and people will be nice to you back. Love is a selfless place to be. There is no safer place to be than under the canopy of love.

- Benjamin Clementine

Love, Will, Means, Meaning Of

At home and in church - which I didn't go to a lot, I was very rebellious, but my family was strict Christians - they would ask us, 'What's the shortest verse in the Bible?' and I was the one who always said 'John 11:35' straightaway. It stayed with me: the Bible has stayed with me.

- Benjamin Clementine

Church, Very, Lot, Strict

Why are there not cabs in Edmonton? Why are there cabs in central London but not here? And if they're going to be here, they should be cheaper. And travelcards, they're expensive.

- Benjamin Clementine

London, Here, Cheaper, Edmonton

If you live in central London, that's probably fine for you, but in places like Edmonton, where you're almost out of sight of London, you've got to pay more and more to get into central London. How does that work?

- Benjamin Clementine

London, Like, Almost, Edmonton

I always try to be as discreet as possible, so I wear black.

- Benjamin Clementine

Black, Always, Wear, Discreet

The greatest in heroes in life are the anonymous. That's what I believe. Your neighbours are heroes. People who, when you walk down the street, you see them feeding their little baby - these people are heroes because they are living under difficult situations, but they're still trying to save a life.

- Benjamin Clementine

Believe, Save, Your, Anonymous

I just wanted to eat, to survive. I started singing a cappella in bars. I saved up money to get my first guitar and started writing songs.

- Benjamin Clementine

Singing, Saved, Survive, To Survive

I personally don't know what nerves are. I don't get scared when I'm going to play music. But I think something, maybe my fears, are buried into my songs. Because I'm singing them.

- Benjamin Clementine

Play, Maybe, I Think, Play Music

I was on the train; I did play, but I also played in bars, in the streets, at birthday parties for people who discovered me on the train.

- Benjamin Clementine

Birthday, Play, Discovered, Train

When I was a kid, I remember seeing Michael Jackson. I thought he was an alien. You don't grow up to be like Michael Jackson. I'm not saying I'm Michael Jackson, but Mercury Prizes are for aliens, basically. So I was very chuffed that I got nominated, and then I won.

- Benjamin Clementine

Thought, I Remember, Very, None

Now I'm standing in front of a thousand people. They're all looking at me, but they're sitting down. They're surrendered, so I have to keep on proving myself to them and giving them all my passion.

- Benjamin Clementine

Myself, Them, Proving, Sitting

It stayed with me - the Bible has stayed with me. I've grown out of it because, obviously, you live life for yourself and have your choice to believe what you want to believe in, but I know that the Bible can be used to appreciate life.

- Benjamin Clementine

Bible, Want, Obviously, Live Life

I started writing music in a French way: more focused on lyrics than melody.

- Benjamin Clementine

Music, More, Melody, Lyrics

When I first started singing in Paris, I sounded horrible: I was just singing to get some money to eat. And I wasn't singing my own songs: it was Bob Dylan, Bob Marley, Jimi Hendrix. Eventually, when I wrote my own music, my style just came out of my own place.

- Benjamin Clementine

Own, Some, Eventually, None

People want a beautiful story. Hopefully my life story is still beautiful, but that metro stuff doesn't make it much more pitiful.

- Benjamin Clementine

My Life, More, Still, Life Story

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