Creativity Quote by Paul Simon

Paul Simon punctures the romantic myth that declaring yourself an artist automatically grants you genius. The line lands because it refuses the ego boost that “artist” usually carries. He treats the label as a job title, not a halo: you can claim the work, join the lineage, even build a life around it, and still be honestly unsure you’re any good. That’s not false modesty so much as a survival strategy.

The “bargain” is the key word. Simon frames self-identification as an artist as a contract with consequences: permission to keep going in exchange for the humility to endure being mediocre, at least for a while. It’s a private deal that protects you from two traps at once. First, perfectionism: if you need to be great before you’re allowed to make anything, you’ll never make anything. Second, entitlement: if you assume your art is important because you made it, you stop listening, revising, learning.

Coming from Simon, the subtext is especially pointed. His career is practically a case study in craft-as-obsession: the meticulous songwriting, the ear for phrasing, the decades-long willingness to change his sound. This quote hints that the engine behind that excellence isn’t inspiration; it’s dissatisfaction, the productive kind. He’s also quietly separating “identity” from “output,” which feels modern in an era where self-branding can replace apprenticeship. Simon’s message is bracing: you don’t earn the right to call yourself an artist by being good. You earn the right to become good by being willing to be bad in public and keep working anyway.