Famous ISFPs

ISFP

Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis

U.S. First Lady and fashion icon, married to John F. Kennedy

Onassis: "I always live in a dream world."

Onassis: "I never ... kept a journal. I thought, 'I want to live my life, not record it.'"

Evelyn Lincoln: "[Her] voice was a wedding of innocence and steel."

Hillary Clinton: "Unpretentious elegance characterized everything she did."

[Hillary Clinton: "Should I turn myself over to a stylist?"]
Onassis: "Oh no! You have to be you. You'll end up wearing someone else's idea of who you are and how you should look. Concentrate instead on what's important to you."

ISFP

Ulysses S. Grant

U.S. President (R) and Civil War general

Grant: "[I did not rejoice] at the downfall of [the South] who had fought so long and valiantly, and had suffered so much for a cause, though that cause was, I believe, one of the worst for which a people ever fought. [But] I do not question ... [their] sincerity."

Henry Ward Beecher: "Abhorring show, [Grant was] simple in manner, gentle in his intercourse, modest and even diffident in regard to his own personality."

Steven J. Rubenzer: "Grant was an innocent. ... He was not like any other president."

Steven J. Rubenzer: "Unlike most presidents, Grant ... preferred simply to go his own way rather than be a leader."

ISFP

Jonathan Ive

Lead designer at Apple

Ive: "I think we are surrounded by multiple, multiple products that testify to companies who don't really care."

Ive: "I'm constantly haunted by thoughts of, 'Is it good enough? Is there any way we could have made it better?'"

Robert Brunner: "He is a consummate designer on all levels, especially around form, detail, materials and refinement."

Leander Kahney: "He's the nicest, politest guy you ever met and very softly spoken."

Clive Grinyer: "He hasn't got where he is because of his ego."

Neil Smith: "He is incredibly self-effacing."

[Steve Jobs' wife]: "Most people in Steve's life are replaceable. But not Jony."

ISFP

Joern Utzon

Architect of the Sydney Opera House

Utzon: "The most important thing to me is humility. My buildings should adapt to their surroundings, not impose themselves on the world."

Utzon: "[My architecture] is treating space like music."

Mogens Prip-Buus: "One day, Utzon came into the office pretending to be Frank Lloyd Wright."

ISFP

Thich Nhat Hanh

Thien Buddhist master

[When asked how do to walking meditation:]
Hanh: "Just pretend that you are the happiest person in the world."

Hanh: "During the [Vietnam] war we young Buddhists ... were able to understand the suffering of both sides. ... That is why we did not take a side even though the whole world took sides."

Hanh: "[During the war] we [young buddhists] tried to tell people our perception of the situation. ... We wanted to stop the fighting, but the bombs were so loud."

Sallie B. King: "[Hanh's] goal was peace and reconciliation, not one side winning over the other."

ISFP

Nero

Emperor of Rome

[Last words:]
Nero: "Qualis artifex pereo!"
(So great an artist, I die!)

Juergen Malitz: "Augustus and Caesar had learned to feign interest in the theater and the circus. ... Nero did not need to feign interest."

Edward Gibbon: "Nero excelled ... in the elegant arts of music and poetry [and] we should not despise his persuits."

Napoleon Bonaparte: "The people loved Nero. ... There is a reason for this which [history] omits. ... Nero never burdened the ordinary people. But Tacitus says nothing of this. He [only] speaks of his crimes. ... We, as a result, feel that Tacitus is biased."

ISFP

Leni Riefenstahl

Nazi filmmaker

Riefenstahl: "I was a dreamy child."

Riefenstahl: "As long as I live, I will say yes to life."

Riefenstahl: "I naturally prefer and capture the beauty in life."

Riefenstahl: "Reality doesn't interest me."

Riefenstahl: "I [seek] a style in the realm of legend. Something that might allow me to give free rein to my juvenile sense of romanticism and the beautiful image."

ISFP

Michael Jackson

Singer-songwriter

Jackson: "I am [normally] shy. But once I get up [on stage], I take control of myself. Being onstage is magic. There's nothing like it."

Jackson: "I'm crazy about Steven Spielberg."

Jackson: "[Diana] was my type for sure, and I don't like most girls."

Elton John: "He is a very kind person."

Sufjan Stevens: "He had real vision for [his] show. All the decisions he [made] were based on ... body and movement. I realized ... that all of his music is based on physical ideas. They'd be working through something, and he would explain ... with his body. That was really educational."

ISFP

Prince

Singer-songwriter, dated Madonna

Prince: "You gotta live life before you can really talk too much about it."

Prince: "I don't live in a prison. I am not afraid of anything. I haven't built any walls around myself."

Prince: "[I want to be able to] walk around and be me. That's all I want to be, that's all I ever tried to be."

Mick Jagger: "I think Prince is a great artist. ... Prince has been overlooked. ... I've seen great performances by Prince. He's outperformed almost everyone. I'd rate him at the top."

ISFP

Bob Dylan

Singer-songwriter

[Asked about the meaning of his songs:]
Dylan: "I just write them. There isn't any big message."

Dylan: "You can't be wise and in love at the same time."

Dylan: "I don't know if I call myself a poet or not. ... It's more of a visual type of thing for me. I could picture the color of the song."

ISFP

Paul McCartney

Singer-songwriter

[On his songwriting:]
McCartney: "I don't ever try to make a serious social comment. ... It's just a song."

McCartney: "How I wrote depended on my mood. The only way I would be sort of biting ... like [John Lennon] was if I was in a bad mood!"

Mick Jagger: "Paul is very nice and easy to get on with - didn't have [John Lennon's] acerbic side."

ISFP

Mick Jagger

(Rolling Stones)

Jagger: "In the beginning Brian ran the band. He really wanted to be called the leader of the band. I didn't particularly want to be the leader. There wasn't a leader."

Jagger: "[John Lennon] was educated and very smart and cynical and funny. ... [But] you always knew with John, you're gonna be on the end of a lot of sarcastic remarks that you weren't always in the mood for."

Jagger: "I was never crazy about [Kurt Cobain and] Nirvana - too angst-ridden for me."

L'Wren Scott: "Mick really has his own style, and he is quite opinionated about how he wants to look."

Rolling Stone Magazine: "[Mick is] difficult [to] interview, not only because of his natural reserve and lack of interest in the past but also because he communicates as much with his ... body ... as he does verbally: Half of what he says never makes it to the page."

ISFP

Keith Richards

(Rolling Stones)

Richards: "I don't think I'm cool. It's other people that tell me I'm cool. I'm just being who I am."

Richards: "Just be yourself is all I can say. ... If you've gotta think about being cool, you ain't cool."

Richards: "For myself and Mick [songwriting is] a matter of, almost, necessity."

Richards: "Mick and I are still great friends and still want to work together. Both of us know things about each other - and are still finding out. There is no final judgment on one or the other."

ISFP

Jimi Hendrix

Singer-songwriter

Hendrix: "People ... have to rely on music to get peace of mind, satisfaction, or direction. More so than politics, the big ego scene. [Politics is] an art of words ... meaning nothing. ... You ... have to [rely on] an earthier substance, like music or the arts."

Hendrix: "I just want to do what I feel."

Hendrix: "I like [music] that is easier on the mind. There are too many heavy songs nowadays. Music ... has been getting too heavy, almost to the state of unbearable."

[Upon hearing Hendrix on the guitar:]
Eric Clapton: "[No one] told me he was that fucking good."

U.S. Army Report: "[He] is unable to conform to military rules and regulations."

ISFP

Kate Bush

Singer-songwriter

Bush: "I really like the idea of my work speaking for me, not me speaking for me."

Bush: "People's preconceptions [of me] don't concern me. I am who I am. ... People's conceptions of what I am - in a way that's their problem and not mine."

Bush: "[I] feel strongly about what I want [in my work and] how I want to see it presented. It is an expression of me at some point, and it seems wrong that as soon as it goes out into the world it should leave me and my expression behind."

ISFP

David Bowie

Singer-songwriter

Bowie: "My music [expresses how I feel] for me. There, in the chords and melodies, is everything I want to say. The words just jolly it along."

Bowie: "I had to resign myself, many years ago, that I'm not too articulate when it comes to explaining how I feel about things."

Bowie: "[My music has] always been my way of expressing what for me is inexpressible by any other means."

Lady Gaga: "How I love David Bowie!"

ISFP

Lady Gaga

Singer-songwriter

Gaga: "You have to be unique and different and shine in your own way."

Gaga: "I try to not focus on what people expect from me."

Gaga: "I'm half living my life between reality and fantasy at all times."

Gaga: "Every bit of me is devoted to love and art."

ISFP

Janelle Monae

Singer-songwriter

Monae: "Embrace the things that make you unique, love yourself, and redefine what it means to be beautiful."

Monae: "I will never ever suppress who I am for anyone."

Monae: "When you go on stage, it's like you're in your own world, in a different world."

Monae: "I [am] not even going to talk with anyone in the music industry if they [are] not supportive. ... Taking away my creative freedom is like chopping out my soul."

ISFP

Trent Reznor

(Nine Inch Nails)

Reznor: "I am [sometimes] written off as aloof or stand-offish when I'm [really] shy and don't know what to say."

Reznor: "When I did ['Head Like a Hole'] that was how I felt in my head. When I did 'Downward Spiral' that is where I was for that. I try not to be too concerned about ... what [people] are expecting from me."

[Interviewer: "What is the significance of the name 'Nine Inch Nails?'"]
Reznor: "[It] just kinda popped into my head. Two weeks later I still liked it, so we just went with it. As far as any significance, I just like it because it looked good in print."

ISFP

Justin Timberlake

Singer and actor, dated Britney Spears and Cameron Diaz

Timberlake: "Every relationship I've been in, I've overwhelmed the girl. They just can't handle all the love."

[On being compared with Michael Jackson:]
Timberlake: "I feel very fortunate to be compared to somebody so incredible. Michael Jackson's an icon."

[On making hit music:]
Timberlake: "My biggest challenge was to make sure that the songs I did were who I am."

ISFP

Frank Ocean

Singer-songwriter

Ocean: "When I'm trying to make a song ... I'm trying to make a photograph out of something you can never see."

Ocean: "My aim is to make something that represents where I am at that time."

Ocean: "It's pretty rad to hear Beyonce sing a song of yours or to hear [Jay-Z] rhyme over and be on a song that you're on."

ISFP

Brad Pitt

Actor, was married to Angelina Jolie, was married to Jennifer Aniston, dated Gwyneth Paltrow

Pitt: "I have a hard time with morals. All I know is what feels right. What's more important to me is being honest about who you are."

Pitt: "I trust actions. I don't put much trust in words."

Pitt: "My frustration with acting is that I can't do quite what music does. Music has its own language."

Pitt: "I go a little insane with [buying furniture]. It's my thing."

Pitt: "I've found that the best things always happen when you throw yourself into a situation and you don't know what you're doing. If you take too much control over it, it can become dank and moldy - no bubbles."

Pitt: "I am pretty much mush. ... I wish I could be tougher."

ISFP

Ryan Gosling

Actor

Gosling: "I have my own taste, and I just try and stick with that."

Gosling: "If I have any particular appeal to women ... it's because I listen more than other guys do and appreciate how they think and feel about things."

Gosling: "Show me [a man] that wouldn't give it all up for Emma Stone, and I'll show you a liar."

Nicolas Winding Refn: "Ryan has a wonderful gift for design, especially clothes - much better than I."

Nicolas Winding Refn: "Ryan likes detail in how he looks and how he dresses. He builds his character a lot through his wardrobe."

Emma Stone: "[I] really like hearing [Ryan Gosling's] viewpoint because I know that it's never going to be tainted. He's very much his own person."

ISFP

Audrey Hepburn

Actress

Hepburn: "I think life is all about ... children and flowers."

Hepburn: "I never think of myself as an icon. What is in other people's minds is not in my mind. I just do my thing."

Hepburn: "I've [always] followed my instincts and they've brought me nothing but blessings and good fortune and terribly kind people to work with."

Sophia Loren: "Audrey was meek, gentle and ethereal, understated both in her life and in her work. She walked among us with a light pace, as if she didn't want to be noticed."

ISFP

Elizabeth Taylor

Actress

Taylor: "I've always admitted that I'm ruled by my passions."

Taylor: "[Michael Jackson and I] had so much in common and we had such loving fun together."

ISFP

Monica Bellucci

Actress

Bellucci: "[My] acting process [is] very difficult to explain. It's something very intimate, very private."

Bellucci: "Acting is not words."

Bellucci: "I'm not scared of nudity, because for me, nothing is more beautiful than a body. You can have such an amazing emotion from a body."

ISFP

Nicole Kidman

Actress, was married to Tom Cruise

Kidman: "What interests me most is love. People who fall in love. Fall out of love. Hopefully we can survive, and that is what my films say."

Kidman: "I was a highly sensitive child."

Kidman: "I am really spontaneous."

Kidman: "I love the beauty of clothes. I collect antique clothes."

Kidman: "I have no sense of what's fashionable; I just know what I like to wear."

Kidman: "I like sticking to my own self."

Kidman: "[Being in love is] incredibly raw, incredibly dangerous and you're very much out at sea. You're exposed. You could drown."

ISFP

Princess Diana

U.K. royal, was married to King Charles, mother of William and Harry

Diana: "I lead from the heart, not the head."

Diana: "I don't go by a rule book."

Prince William: "She loved dancing so much. It was a real way that she got through life - by dancing. ... It was a big release for her."

Michael Jackson: "She was very kind, very loving, very sweet."

ISFP

Marilyn Monroe

Actress

Monroe: "I have too many fantasies to be a housewife. I guess I am a fantasy."

Monroe: "I restore myself when I'm alone."

[Asked if she considered herself a sex symbol:]
Monroe: "A sex symbol becomes a thing. I'd just hate to be a thing."

Mick Jagger: "I'm not sure why, but I identify with her."

ISFP

Britney Spears

Singer, dated Justin Timberlake

Spears: "I don't like defining myself. I just am."

Spears: "Justin Timberlake just understands. I get him, and he gets me."

The Mirror: "[When performing, Britney demands a] framed photo of ... Princess Diana [backstage]. ... Diana [is] in many ways her inspiration."

ISFP

Paris Hilton

Television personality

Hilton: "I'm very easy to get along with."

Hilton: "When I was little I looked up to Princess Diana."

[Asked what she personifies:]
Hilton: "Fashion, fun, excitement. ... I am really passionate."

[Larry King: "[When you were in jail] did you hear a lot about what people were saying on the outside?"]
Hilton: "No. I just really wanted to focus on myself. I didn't want to hear all the gossip and things."

ISFP

Rihanna

Singer

[On cutting her hair short:]
Rihanna: "The label didn't want me to do this look. I don't care who likes it - this is me."

Rihanna: "The hardest thing for me is to say no."

ISFP

Christina Aguilera

Singer

Aguilera: "I've never watched an entire episode of 'American Idol.' It's too mean."

Aguilera: "I stray away from the formulaic, the formatted."

Aguilera: "I think you can really gauge my state of mind by listening to my albums."

Aguilera: "I'm not a judgmental person."

Aguilera: "It's so easy to get bulldozed [by others]."

ISFP

Avril Lavigne

Singer-songwriter

Lavigne: "I'm ... very clear on who I am and what I like and don't like."

Lavigne: "I've written every single song on all my records, and that's really important because then they're me."

Lavigne: "I have to fight to keep my image really me. ... I rejected some gorgeous publicity shots because they just didn't look like me."

Lavigne: "I love having fun and I'm young at heart ... [I] love to enjoy life and live in the moment."

Lavigne: "When [you are] having a special moment ... it's all about making the best of it and losing yourself in that moment, being carefree."

ISFP

Leona Lewis

Singer

Lewis: "I'm not a loud, extravagant person. ... I don't show off or boast."

[On why she parted ways with Simon Cowell:]
Lewis: "I was asked to make a record that would not have been true to myself. ... I cannot make music that does not speak to my soul."

Lewis: "I've stayed true to myself and I've followed what my heart says is right."

ISFP

David Gilmour

(Pink Floyd)

Gilmour: "I don't find it easy to express my feelings in words."

Gilmour: "I thought [Roger Waters'] songs were very wordy and that ... the music [that he wrote] became a mere vehicle for lyrics, and not a very inspiring one."

[Interviewer: "How did Roger Waters become the leader of Pink Floyd?"]
Gilmour: "He just wanted to be. He would say, 'I think you should say that I'm the leader.' We'd say, 'Oh come on, who gives a shit? It's a band, you know?'"

ISFP

Enya

Singer-songwriter

Enya: "I am really a very shy person. If I [do publicity], it is because of the music, not because I want to be seen."

Enya: "My core beliefs revolve around the idea that ... we should live and let live."

ISFP

Andrew Bird

Singer-songwriter

Bird: "[Before performing] I walk around the [theater] and imagine ... what it's like to sit in the audience. I have to go into the lobby; I have to get a sense of the experience."

Bird: "I find it boring [when] lyrics are dark and brooding."

Bird: "I got out of ... classical [music because I wanted] a more comfortable, enjoyable, social-music atmosphere."

[On Bob Dylan being booed for using an electric guitar at an acoustic festival:]
Bird: "Dylan just reminded us to not get too uptight."

ISFP

Jonsi

(Sigur Ros)

Jonsi: "When I am writing music, it is magical. I don't know why I write songs, I don't know where it comes from and I don't know why [I am] doing it."

Jonsi: "Reporters want to know why I sing like this, why do I use a bow on my guitar. ... I really don't know. And I can't make something up about it. I can only speak the truth."

Jonsi: "[It takes] a big toll on [me] ... that there's a business side of the music industry [that has] nothing to do with writing songs and creating music."

Jonsi: "[I am] so spontaneous ... and everything [I] do has a huge amount of soul, but no meaning."

ISFP

John Travolta

Actor

Travolta: "All I can control is my response to input. If you come around me and tell me bad news all the time, I can say, 'You know what? I don't want to hear it.'"

Travolta: "Dancing's part of my soul. I enjoy it, it makes people happy, and it makes me happy."

Travolta: "I'm a big mush ball, which is just part of my personality."

ISFP

Zac Efron

Actor, dated Vanessa Hudgens

Efron: "I'll never try to put on a fake image. I'm just Zac."

Efron: "I don't judge anyone and I never have."

Efron: "Every day is a new experience and I take it as it comes."

Efron: "[Nicole Kidman] is fun to work with. ... [When we were acting together] we went with the moment."

ISFP

David Beckham

Soccer player, married to Victoria Beckham

Beckham: "I love football. I love being in front of that crowd performing. I think that's where I feel safest, actually, believe it or not."

Beckham: "I'm a big fan of tattos. Each one has a meaning."

Beckham: "I've always loved clothes and liked to dress up."

Beckham: "I've never wanted to be a manager. It's not a passion of mine."

ISFP

Sofia Coppola

Filmmaker and fashion icon, daughter of Francis Ford Coppola, cousin of Nicolas Cage

Coppola: "I'm superopinionated about what I do and don't like."

Coppola: "Acting isn't for me. I don't like being told what to do. I'm more interested in ... design, more visually driven."

Marc Jacobs: "She's very feminine. ... She loves fashion and music and art and film, and she is able to combine them in a way that all seems [natural]. I'm sure she works quite hard, but it all seems effortless."

Marc Jacobs: "She doesn't have that gritty hunger to prove what she knows."

Zoe Cassavetes: "You want to protect her. She sees the world a certain way, and you don't want the world to let her down."

ISFP

Liv Tyler

Actress

Tyler: "There is no definition of beauty, but when you can see someone's spirit coming through, something unexplainable, that's beautiful to me."

ISFP

Drew Barrymore

Actress

Barrymore: "Love is the hardest habit to break, and the most difficult to satisfy."

ISFP

Pamela Anderson

Actress

Anderson: "Tattoos are like stories - they're symbolic of the important moments in your life. Sitting down, talking about where you got each tattoo and what it symbolizes, is really beautiful."

ISFP

Dita von Teese

Burlesque dancer and model, was married to Marilyn Manson

Von Teese: "[A common misperception about me is] that I can't possibly be shy and do what I do. [I] have confidence about certain things and not about others."

Von Teese: "I'd rather be naked in a room of 300 people than talking in front of them."

ISFP

Maynard James Keenan

(Tool and A Perfect Circle)

Keenan: "There's a lot of [jargon] that's a bunch of horseshit. I just like what I like."

Keenan: "[As an artist] you just go with your heart. ... That's pretty much the goal of any artist, I think: To follow his heart."

Keenan: "Everything happens for a reason, no matter if it's good or bad. There is no point in trying to change [it]."

Keenan: "People [should] just hear the title of [an] album and go out and ... experience it for themselves. ... You shouldn't really have to explain it. You should be able to hear it, and it either moves you or it doesn't."

ISFP

Skrillex

Singer-songwriter

Skrillex: "The key moments in a performance [are] when you're singing [and] going back to the place where you wrote those lyrics. ... You're actually feeling [where it came from]."

Skrillex: "I wouldn't say I'm a heavy guy. I just feel what I feel."

Skrillex: "I never try to overthink things."

ISFP

Prince Harry

U.K. royal, son of Charles and Diana, brother of William

Harry: "Wherever you are, different places, different people - you've just got to roll with it."

[On visiting Britain's Caribbean dominions along with Elizabeth II:]
Harry: "It tripped me up because to me, she is just granny, but to all these countries, she is the queen."

NBC News: "William [is] dutiful [and] proper [while] Harry [is] volatile and carefree."

Diana: "Harry's the naughty one, just like me."

ISFP

Prince Frederik

Crown Prince of Denmark, married to Mary

Frederik: "I often choose to perceive the light of a new day as the rebirth of the untouched, the inexperienced and the innocent."

Frederik: "It is wonderful to pretend that everything begins anew each day."

[Asked about being an elite soldier, a marathon runner, a parachutist, and more:]
Frederik: "It was my own will to sort of shape [my life] that way, being physically active and challenging yourself in that sense. ... That's sort of my destiny."

ISFP

Nina Nesbitt

Singer-songwriter

Nesbitt: "I like people who have their own quirky style."

Nesbitt: "I try to be ... soulful and ... true to real life."

Nesbitt: "I'm a bit of a dreamer. I don't really have any boundaries. If I want something, I chase after it."

Nesbitt: "You either can write a song or you can't. It just comes out somehow."

Nesbitt: "With any art there are no rules."

Elliot Mitchell: "She furthers [the] idea of non-conformity ... and not boxing herself in for future pursuits."

ISFP

Pharrell Williams

Singer-songwriter and producer

Pharrell: "Sometimes you've just got to put your pride aside and be quiet so that you can absorb not only what a person is saying but how they are saying it - their energy, their body language. It's all for a reason."

Pharrell: "I am a sensitive person, so I want to be with sensitive people."

Pharrell: "Fashion and music are like time and space. Without time there is no space ... without fashion there is no music. What are you going to wear in your video? What are you going to listen to going down the runway? It's the same thing."

Fast Company Magazine: "His personal bible is Paulo Coelho's 'The Alchemist.'"

Fast Company Magazine: "[He is] a visual person, a kind of intelligence that isn't celebrated in most schools."