Ben Shahn Quotes

Everything in my career is my decision - every picture, every outfit. You get one chance at this, and I never saw myself as being a puppet.

I have to believe that I know what's best for me. For instance, I choose all my songs. I never record anything I don't want to record. No one tells me what concerts to do.

I've been wanting to produce for some time because I want to have more creative control over the things that I do and not be victim to the whims of other people's desires.

I didn't come to Hollywood to be subservient to anyone else's vision.

I need to find a way of retaining creative control.

I just kind of feel like it's my choice to do what I want to do. And my agent, he's totally with it. He tells me, 'You can turn down any audition you don't want to.'

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

If some actress thinks she is sexy and she can dance, it's her choice. I do what I want to do, and I set my own benchmark. I will never compare myself with anyone.

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.

If I'm going to go out to be a solo artist, it's because I want to do something different without having to wait on someone else's schedule or hobbies or be limited by other people's prejudices. I'd be kind of stupid not to exercise that.

The freedom you feel when you're actually in control of your own music is fantastic.

Choosing what you want to do, and when to do it, is an act of creation.

I don't much like being directed. I enjoy being allowed to play.

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 never going to do something that I don't want to do, because I've been given the opportunity to not have to do that.

I don't have a hard and fast rule about dignity. I'm concerned about being treated with respect, but if I make my own choices and kind of let 'er rip, I will.

Stand up for yourself and fight for your right to be the artist that you want to be. There's plenty of pressure from outside; people tell you how to dress and how to sing or what to sing, but I always felt like if I'm going to fail or succeed, I want to do it on my own terms.

It's cool to see a woman be like, 'This is what I want - this is what I don't want.' It's good to see someone making choices for themselves.

I didn't want to just be an artist and let someone else have all that control over me. I knew I would have to produce.

I've gone places where they've told me what I need to do, what I need to say, who I need to be, what moves I need to perform. And at Impact I get to just be me. I have creative control to be me and do what I want.

No one controlled Frank Sinatra or told him how to sing. No secret group of managers has been telling someone like Jay-Z what to do or how to look. And no one tells me what to do except me and the people who believe in me.

I love having the control over the end result and not having to go through some committee to get something approved. I feel sorry for people, like actors, because unless you're Woody Allen or Mel Gibson, they don't have much say in the decisions that affect their work.

I still want to do features, but on my own terms.

I can make my own decisions, I can do the music I like. If I fail, it's me failing - you know.

As an independent artist, you control the means of production, which is the ultimate form of empowerment.