I had an immense advantage over many others dealing with the problem inasmuch as I had no fixed ideas derived from long-established practice to control and bias my mind, and did not suffer from the general belief that whatever is, is right.
Few new truths have ever won their way against the resistance of established ideas save by being overstated.
Usually my ideas come from what I don't want to do, or what I find is old.
There was something punk rock about Bobby Kennedy not going where the pollsters said or where consultants said. He was unmoored from what was safe or easy.
I don't want to be married to any ideology, because life is a lot more fluid than that, and I think that we're trained and conditioned in this country to think in teams.
Everything popular is wrong.
Progress usually comes from the barbarian, and there is nothing more stagnant than the philosophy of the philosophers and the theology of the theologians.
Early in your career, you feel like there is a formula, a path you have to take. You have to do this movie because this person directed it and you have to be associated with these people. In some ways, I have thrown that out.
If contemporary artists sincerely seek to be original, unique, and new, they should begin by disregarding the notions of originality, individuality, and innovation: they are the cliches of our time.
I made it a point not to graduate. I thought that was a positive, independent kind of statement.
Contrarian thinking doesn't make any sense unless the world still has secrets left to give up.
I think 'punk' should really be defined as paving your own way creatively and by defying any sort of orthodoxy or commercial pressure.
I resist all established beliefs. My religion basically is to be immediate, to live in the now.
A key ingredient in innovation is the ability to challenge authority and break rules.
If I'm writing a book, and I'm warned, 'Oh, this is unsaleable, you need to make it shorter,' or, 'It has to be this, or that,' I'm proud to say I don't pay attention.
If you have always done it that way, it is probably wrong.
It is not the writer's task to answer questions but to question answers. To be impertinent, insolent, and, if necessary, subversive.
I always grew up with, 'Question authority.'
I reject most conventional wisdom.
I'm an anti-standard operating procedure guy.
I'm someone who's done the opposite of whatever the received wisdom is, to keep your career going into your 50s.
I don't think I'm defying stereotypes on purpose. If it so appears that way, so be it. For me, I've been brought up that way.
