I’ve never really had a hobby, unless you count art, which the IRS once told me I had to declare as a hobby since I hadn’t made money with it.

Meaning of the quote

Laurie Anderson, an American musician, says she has never had a real hobby, except for art. The government tax agency, called the IRS, told her that she had to list art as a hobby since she did not earn any money from it. This means that even though she enjoyed creating art, the IRS didn't consider it a professional activity since she wasn't making a profit from it.

About Laurie Anderson

Laurie Anderson is an American avant-garde artist, musician, and filmmaker known for her innovative work in performance art, pop music, and multimedia. She has achieved unexpected commercial success and is considered a pioneer in electronic music, having invented several musical devices used in her performances.

More about the author

More quotes from Laurie Anderson

As an artist I’d choose the thing that’s beautiful more than the one that’s true.

Laurie Anderson

American artist and musician (born 1947)

Why do you have to translate and decode things? Just let the image be. It will have a special kind of reality that it won’t once it’s decoded.

Laurie Anderson

American artist and musician (born 1947)

As a New Yorker, I’m someone who lives on an island and looks across to America.

Laurie Anderson

American artist and musician (born 1947)

I think a lot of people in Washington are extremely suspicious of NASA.

Laurie Anderson

American artist and musician (born 1947)

I’m an average enough person to point to the things I’ve gotten to see that are awe-inspiring.

Laurie Anderson

American artist and musician (born 1947)

My job is to make images and leave the decision-making and conclusion-drawing to other people.

Laurie Anderson

American artist and musician (born 1947)

The world is a strange and wonderful place.

Laurie Anderson

American artist and musician (born 1947)

You can do bigger and bigger things. For what?

Laurie Anderson

American artist and musician (born 1947)

I’m not usually where I think I am. It’s kind of spooky.

Laurie Anderson

American artist and musician (born 1947)

Something that has so much power must have life. Instruments have life.

Laurie Anderson

American artist and musician (born 1947)

Paradise is exactly like where you are right now… only much, much better.

Laurie Anderson

American artist and musician (born 1947)

Besides all those whaling details, Moby Dick is about someone who’s looking for something so huge, something they’ve wanted all their life, yet they know when they find it, it will kill them.

Laurie Anderson

American artist and musician (born 1947)

I just sort of wish people would dance differently. It reminds me of teenage sex.

Laurie Anderson

American artist and musician (born 1947)

If there are bases on the moon, that would be the end of the moon as we know it.

Laurie Anderson

American artist and musician (born 1947)

It’s good to take a longer view and think, What would I really like to do if I had no limitations whatsoever?

Laurie Anderson

American artist and musician (born 1947)

I’ve never really had a hobby, unless you count art, which the IRS once told me I had to declare as a hobby since I hadn’t made money with it.

Laurie Anderson

American artist and musician (born 1947)

I think women are excellent social critics.

Laurie Anderson

American artist and musician (born 1947)

I see and write things first as an artist, second as a woman, and third as a New Yorker. All three have built-in perspectives that aren’t neutral.

Laurie Anderson

American artist and musician (born 1947)

One of the things I learned from working on the Olympics was, the world does not need another big multimedia show.

Laurie Anderson

American artist and musician (born 1947)

The problem with prototypes is they don’t always work.

Laurie Anderson

American artist and musician (born 1947)

You can do great things with low-tech stuff.

Laurie Anderson

American artist and musician (born 1947)

People only stutter at the beginning of the word. They’re not afraid when they get to the end of the word. There’s just regret.

Laurie Anderson

American artist and musician (born 1947)

Writers want to summarize: What does this mean? What did we learn from this? That’s a very 19th-century way of thinking about art, because it assumes that it should make our lives better or teach us something.

Laurie Anderson

American artist and musician (born 1947)

It’s just such a great miracle when things do work, and they work for such a wild variety of crazy reasons.

Laurie Anderson

American artist and musician (born 1947)

I have written a few children’s books. The first book that I wrote was for children. It was called “The Package”, and it was a mystery story in pictures. It had no words.

Laurie Anderson

American artist and musician (born 1947)

I think artists who are attracted to working on the Net will adjust their work to the capabilities of a very small screen.

Laurie Anderson

American artist and musician (born 1947)

My secret dream is to write an epic poem. That’s probably the most pretentious thing I’ve said.

Laurie Anderson

American artist and musician (born 1947)

My work is more about trying to ask good questions and not trying to come up with big shows. Every fashion company is doing that, every car company is doing that.

Laurie Anderson

American artist and musician (born 1947)

People are really suffering these days. There’s a lot of corporate triumph and a lot of personal despair as they wonder what are they working for.

Laurie Anderson

American artist and musician (born 1947)

Writing about music is like dancing about architecture.

Laurie Anderson

American artist and musician (born 1947)

At the School of Visual Arts in New York, you can get your degree in Net art, which is really a fantastic way of thinking of theater in new ways.

Laurie Anderson

American artist and musician (born 1947)

I so much appreciate it when anybody tries to make something and tries to be an artist – I’m happy to see the work.

Laurie Anderson

American artist and musician (born 1947)

I’m a real workaholic.

Laurie Anderson

American artist and musician (born 1947)

I don’t take compliments so well. I always hang my head and shuffle and kind of try to immediately forget.

Laurie Anderson

American artist and musician (born 1947)

I’ve been trying to avoid goal-oriented behavior.

Laurie Anderson

American artist and musician (born 1947)

I really like books that you can kind of hear as much as think about, that are so graphic and visual.

Laurie Anderson

American artist and musician (born 1947)

When love is gone, there’s always justice. And when justice is gone, there’s always force. And when force is gone, there’s always Mom. Hi, Mom!

Laurie Anderson

American artist and musician (born 1947)

The thing that’s characteristic of my performance is that I literally do drag the whole studio onto the stage.

Laurie Anderson

American artist and musician (born 1947)

The fewer expectations you have, the better.

Laurie Anderson

American artist and musician (born 1947)

I have written a lot about snakes. There’s something pretty primordial about it.

Laurie Anderson

American artist and musician (born 1947)

I hate zoos.

Laurie Anderson

American artist and musician (born 1947)

Performance art is about joy, about making something that’s so full of kind of a wild joy that you really can’t put into words.

Laurie Anderson

American artist and musician (born 1947)

A lot of artists who have a certain style are expected to more or less keep doing their style. It’s so easy to get into that rut of production.

Laurie Anderson

American artist and musician (born 1947)

A lot of the work in United States is highly critical of technology. I’m using 15,000 watts of power and 18 different pieces of electronic equipment to say that.

Laurie Anderson

American artist and musician (born 1947)

The only stuff I don’t like are Broadway musicals. I hate them. I don’t even like to talk about it. I can’t bear musicals.

Laurie Anderson

American artist and musician (born 1947)

A lot of words in English confuse the idea of life and electricity, like the word livewire.

Laurie Anderson

American artist and musician (born 1947)