William Petersen Quotes

I don't regret not coming out early. A lot of people felt that I could have been a lottery pick, but we'll never know.

I feel, having the choices I had, I felt I had more control over my own medium than I did over photography.

I have many times thought I did the wrong thing, but the reason was not to be a medical doctor - it was just to have the information. But then, maybe I was wrong, I don't know.

I know I'm not gonna please everybody when I make a record. I don't let that affect any of my decisions.

No not pigeon holed me as an actor, or as a character, or as to what I could do - but what I would do... and the fact is the things you don't do are almost as important as as the things that you do.

I'm gonna make what I want to make, and other people are gonna like what they're gonna like. It doesn't really matter.

I've avoided situations where I wouldn't have creative freedom.

It doesn't make a difference to anybody if I accept or quit a film.

Whether or not you like an object, it's the product of an individual person making decisions about things. That's what makes it interesting.

Why did I choose to be a goalkeeper? I don't know - it is good question. I have asked myself many times when things have not being going well.

'Garbage Time' was the name I came up with. Midnight was my decision. Were they the right decisions? I dunno.

I am trying to be true to the work that I want to do and be allowed to make the choices that I want to make.

A lot of people like structure, so there's definitely a risk with being an artist that a lot of people aren't really willing to take.

I like to believe that most human beings go about things with a point of view that they're just doing what they feel like they need to do at that time. Sometimes people make bad decisions, but it's not evil, not malicious.

When you know what's most important to you, making a decision is quite simple. Most people, though, are unclear about what's most important in their lives, and thus decision making becomes a form of internal torture.

Faith is a choice like any other. If you're picking a career or a husband - or deciding whether to have a baby - there are feelings and reasons pro and con out the wazoo. But thinking it through is - at the final hour - horse dookey. You can only try out.

I've failed a million times on stage. I've listened to notes that I knew weren't right. I've pitched ideas and let other people change them, knowing that it was the wrong choice. The question you have to ask yourself is: How do you want to fail? Do you want to fail in a way that feels like it respects your tastes and value system?

I'm not really that interested in pandering to an audience of people that are going to judge me before they hear me. If they hear it and don't like it, that's totally fine.

I'm enough of an anarchist aesthetically, when it comes to art - I want people to be reading my stuff voluntarily. They should be doing it because they want to.

I could have easily not run for president, and people would have come up and said, "Oh, man, you would have been a great president." Or even a lousy president. But I never would have known had I not chosen to run. Part of life is seizing the moment.

I'm really paying attention. People make up their minds late.

I tended not to be concerned about whether a song was going to be a hit when I wrote it. Because it became evident that none of us knew what was a hit and what wasn't. So I thought if I just write what I like, why shouldn't people like what I like?

You can never predict what an audience is going to respond to and what they're going to watch. What we always knew was that we were making something that we were proud of and that we thought was important, and we hoped that people would feel the same way.

Some people dye their hair yellow or put rings in their noses. I decided I wasn't going to open an account. Put it the other way round - there was no reason that I should.

All I can to, and the only sense of control I have over this crazy moviemaking business, is to pick things that I like with people that I love and respect, and then just hope everything else works out.