CBC Arts' most memorable quotes of the year

When you have wide-ranging conversations with stars from Adele to Aziz Ansari, the most memorable soundbites aren't necessarily words of wisdom. They might be something inspiring, or incendiary, or just plain LOL-worthy, and that's the range you'll find in 2015's most quotable lines. Gathered from our friends at CBC Radio, CBC Books, CBC Music and CBC News, here are some of the best artist quotes of the year.

"We allow each other so little enjoyment or even tolerance for our individualities, our uniquenesses, and yet to me, that's what it's all about. For me, the hip word is mutate. We're ripening all the time." (Buffy Sainte-Marie, CBC Music)

"Don't fear judgement. Don't fear anything." (Margaret Cho, q)

"We have to understand we will be in close proximity to loss, sorrow. And we have to be upright through it. Life is the most precious thing we have." (Patti Smith, CBC News Arts)

"I realized I could write myself out of one reality and into the next. … And that's what I did. I literally wrote myself into the life that I wanted." (Marlon James, Writers & Company)

"Anyone who says they are naturally confident is a liar or a sociopath." (John Hodgman, q)

"When Oasis came along, we didn't have the Internet. If we had ... we would have been bigger than the universe." (Noel Gallagher, q)

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"It's not like success erased my insecurities. I still am who I am at the core. You know what, fame and money don't fix everything." (Shania Twain, CBC News Arts)

"My worst fear is not being believed, that's my worst fear, so if that means I've got to give away myself then that's fine." (Adele, q)

"The world does not care how many times you fall down, just as long as it's one fewer than the number of times you get back up." (Aaron Sorkin, q)

"In a small town, contrary to popular belief, you really have the space to become and be yourself. In a small town, people's eccentricities become normal to people. They know you, they know your family. Whereas in cities, you tend to go to like-minded people. But in a small town, it's just 600 very eclectic people. So I think growing up in the Prairies helped me become an individual." (k.d. lang, CBC Music)

"Racism is a physical experience for black people. It's a visceral experience. It's not theoretical. It's not philosophical. It has to do at every step with you trying to find some way to safeguard your body." (Ta-Nehisi Coates, q)

"Children are born with some pretty important understandings. They will say to you in every language in the world some version of 'That's not fair' and 'You're not the boss of me' And I always say, 'Yes! That's it! That's the basis of every social justice movement.' The problem is that we're made to give that up." (Gloria Steinem, q)

"I'm not a survivor. Survivor comes from saying you barely made it and you're a victim. I am triumphant. I'm not a survivor." (Carlos Santana, q)

"Different isn't strange. Different's superior." (Raziel Reid, CBC Books)

"Why should readability be shameful? I want things to be readable. I work hard to make my things readable." (Nick Hornby, Writers & Company)

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"No human is fast enough to kill a gecko with a salad fork." (John Irving, CBC Books)

"[How would you most like to be remembered?] For my leonine mane of burnished gold and for the rigidity of my unimpeachable six pack." (Bill Richardson, CBC Books)

"I want to wake up looking like Cindy Crawford." (Cindy Crawford, q)

"[Old school romance] starts off at a simmer and builds to a boil over time... Now, people are just trying to find boiling water immediately." (Aziz Ansari, q) 

"Love isn't about when you first meet. It's about the many, many years you spend together, when you're trying to keep that flame burning." (Kazuo Ishiguro, Writers & Company)

"My voice is serious. I don't sing comedy songs. I don't even sing casual lyrics very well. I don't think I could sing the word 'baby' if I tried." (Josh Groban, CBC News Arts)

"I wanted to do art. I wanted to do writing, which seemed to me, not socially useful. In fact, I think it's still not socially useful, certainly not by my parents' [standards]. It was, as my mother said, 'What is a novel? It's lies!' I became a professional liar, whose work existed for no other reason than to entertain." (Jonathan Franzen, Writers & Company)

"I've always had this vague idea that one should live one's life as a work of art." (Russell Smith, CBC Books)

What are your favourite artist quotes of 2015? Share them with us! Find CBC Arts on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.