Orson Welles Quotes

The minute I was told what to do at any age, I did the opposite. Hopefully I'll do that for the rest of my life.

I'm a bit of a contrarian, so I like the idea of going on stage without makeup, without the hair being done, in the jeans and shirt I've been wearing all day. At first that was an issue, because I didn't want to be disrespectful.

The Band was rebelling against the rebellion. The rebellion went to a place where it became too obvious, too trendy, like you were just following the pack. So it was our choice to get off the bandwagon - no pun intended - and do things that were in our background and what was the most honest thing to do.

I don't think I do look like an A-Lister. I'm more interested in being comfortable in my own skin than trying to be somebody I'm not. Gimme jeans, an old T-shirt, cowboy boots and a baseball cap any day.

I just get really bored with sticking to the norm and having the proper conservative image. That's just so not me.

I don't care about image and all that nonsense. I'm in sweat pants every day. I don't play the game at all.

It could be my British need for discipline that makes me admire the American appetite for freedom and passion.

We don't want power, we don't want to be congressmen, bankers, we want to be ourselves.

All I really want to do is play, that's all that matters. I don't think I've ever tried to cultivate an image. Everything has been on instinct. The flannel shirt and jeans, for example... those are the clothes I wear. If I wore anything else on stage, I wouldn't feel comfortable.

I was not trying to be shocking, or to be a pioneer. I wasn't trying to change society, or to be ahead of my time. I didn't think of myself as liberated, and I don't believe that I did anything important. I was just myself. I didn't know any other way to be, or any other way to live.

I didn't want to move or act like a rich man. I wanted to dance in a pair of jeans. I wanted to dance like the man in the streets.

I hate labels, and I wear no labels. When a man has to put something around his neck and say I am, he isn't.

There is no right way to live. You preclude a lot of life by trying to conform to that kind of ideal or stereotype. And it's a natural inclination in a world where it's so complex and so occasionally valueless, morally bankrupt, and chaotic that we want to reach back to something in our past.

Everybody's out trying to be commercial. I'm not trying to be anything, really.

I don't try to be anything. I just want to play my game.

Punk rock should mean freedom, liking and excepting anything that you like. Playing whatever you want. As sloppy as you want. As long as it's good and it has passion.

It's easy to get anonymous people to hate you. Have an opinion. Be creative. Be yourself.

One of the saddest things about conformity is the ghastly sort of non-conformity it breeds; the noisy protesting, the aggressive rebelliousness, the rigid counter-fetishism.

A better everyday life means getting away from status and conventions -- being freer and more at ease as human beings.

I don’t follow fashion and I don’t follow trends, I just follow my instincts...

No need to hurry. No need to sparkle. No need to be anybody but oneself.

It is the free spirited men and women that we most admire and often envy - those individuals who dare to be themselves.

There's no doubt I was a bit of a misfit in the Hollywood of the forties. The race for glamour left me far behind. I didn't really want to keep up. I wanted my stardom without the usual trimmings. Because of this, I was branded a rebel at the very least. But I don't regret that for a minute. My appetite was my own and I simply wouldn't have it any other way.

I wasn't trying to be anything. I was just myself.

Stray thought for the day: Putting boundaries on how punk should sound/look is the least punk rock thing one can do. Be yourself=Very punk.