"If it's what you do and you can do it, then you do it"
About this Quote
It works because it’s tautological in a way that mirrors how artistry can feel from the inside: the work justifies itself by being done. Morrison’s career context sharpens the subtext. He’s long cultivated the image of the hard-to-please craftsman, distrustful of industry gloss, allergic to trend-chasing. Read that way, the quote is a defense of stubborn continuity: you keep showing up to the song, the studio, the stage, because that’s the job and it’s yours.
There’s also a steely little moral hidden in the plain talk. If you can do it, do it; if you can’t, stop dressing incapacity up as principle. It’s a worldview that prizes competence over commentary, making creativity less a lifestyle and more a practice: repeatable, disciplined, occasionally joyless, and still the only honest option.
Quote Details
| Topic | Motivational |
|---|---|
| Source | Help us find the source |
| Cite |
Citation Formats
APA Style (7th ed.)
Morrison, Van. (2026, January 15). If it's what you do and you can do it, then you do it. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/if-its-what-you-do-and-you-can-do-it-then-you-do-165955/
Chicago Style
Morrison, Van. "If it's what you do and you can do it, then you do it." FixQuotes. January 15, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/if-its-what-you-do-and-you-can-do-it-then-you-do-165955/.
MLA Style (9th ed.)
"If it's what you do and you can do it, then you do it." FixQuotes, 15 Jan. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/if-its-what-you-do-and-you-can-do-it-then-you-do-165955/. Accessed 17 Feb. 2026.













