JR Quotes

I don't tell anyone how to write and no one tells me.

The beautiful thing about being independent and having my own label is I can say whatever the hell I want.

For me, being independent is about being able to express myself exactly how I want to, instead of maximising profits.

It feels very, very good to make a film freely, to work without having to wait years for script approval, without looking over your shoulder.

Very few artists are as independent as I am mentally, physically, spiritually and technically. I sit in my home studio and record things by myself. I don't need to get anybody's approval or validation.

I found it liberating of necessity to devise my own style and my own tactics and to look for a voice on the instrument because there weren't really any that impacted strongly on me.

That is the true joy of being a solo artist. I can do whatever I want. I can go wherever I want. I can show up with my guitar and my song, and it can sound a hundred different ways. That's the freedom of being on your own. The flipside is: That's you on the cover. If it sucks, it's your fault.

There's nobody telling Oprah what to do. There's no one telling David Letterman what he can and can't do. You've got to have 100 percent support from everybody who's behind the show, across the board.

I would design for anybody who gives me a free hand and who doesn't sit on my head.

I want everything that I've worked for to go into my pocket. I want all my money to come to me. I'm very much hands-on with my career, and I like to do what I want in the studio - I don't like being told, 'do it this way' or 'do it that way.'

No one tells me what to do with my music. Real. My mom doesn't tell what to say, how is someone else going to?

I'd rather sink with my own vision than float with somebody else's.

Being a writer is so great because you're literally not dependent on anybody. Whereas, as an actor, you have to audition or wait for somebody else to make a decision about how to use you, with writing, you can do it anywhere, anytime you want. You don't have to ask permission.

Lord of the Rings made me realize that I'm not interested in doing anyone else's work.

I always knew I wanted to make my own way; I never wanted to be dependent on my father.

We love having the freedom that we have with the web; I mean, we don't have to answer to anybody. We have complete creative control; we don't have to worry about FCC regulations.

My parents were quite liberal with us, always encouraging us to be our own person and be creative.

I try to please myself. I don't try to anticipate what people want to see.

I'm responsible for what I am and what I want to be. I'm not trying to live by another's standards.

I never think about what others are doing. I do a film for myself, not others.

My father would have been spectacularly ill-suited to working for an institution of any kind, and I suspect that, to a lesser degree, that's true of me, too.

I'm not the kind of person that seeks out other people's opinions on my works.

No one ever taught me how to shave; no one ever sat down to watch a Braves game with me. I paid for Yale myself, I lived by myself, I taught myself how to play the guitar. I did this all on my own.

I am a free man. I do not need to copy Petrarca or Boccaccio. My own genius is enough. Let others worry themselves about style, and so cease to be themselves. Without a master, without a model, without a guide, I go to work and earn my living, my well-being and my fame.

It is refreshing to be able to express my views without having to toe a party line. It has got me into trouble on the odd occasion, but I am not going to stop saying what I think.