Oren Etzioni Quotes

Since I was in my early twenties, at ABC, I was always only interested in things that were not already being done.

Don't listen to the prevailing majority points of view. If you have new ideas, push them.

Whatever you do, don't play it safe. Don't do things the way they've always been done. Don't try to fit the system. If you do what's expected of you, you'll never accomplish more than others expect.

If your goal is to change the world, you can't start by doing things the same old way because it sells better.

Tradition is the great misleader because it's too easy to follow what has already been done - even though you may think you're giving it a kick. I was really trying to invent, instead of merely expressing myself.

You can't reinvent the wheel. I remember when we first started out at 'Late Night,' we were trying to hire directors, and this guy was like, 'I see you behind a glass desk.' I don't. And he's like, 'Yeah, the glass desk.' I go, 'I don't really see me as a glass desk guy.'

You want to stand out and be unique and do something different. I always try to zig when they zag - I guess it's a football term, but it applies to a lot of different areas of life.

I'm someone who always wants to do everything differently. If I have a pattern, I'd rather I didn't have a pattern. I want every book to be unpredictable and new. Damn it!

The world of entertainment is, like the world of fashion, becoming increasingly populated by those who don't want to do things the same old boring way.

More or less, I am always saying, 'Let's do what has not been done.'

Why do something that's already been done?

What's the fun in doing conventional things? I would rather be known as someone who is unconventional. I like being unconventional. I like doing things which are different. That's what I like... It gives me a boost as an actor.

I feel that one thing that a businessman can learn is do not follow a path that has already been successful. You will never be a path-breaker then.

Some in Europe take a plane, fly to Silicon Valley, visit and look and come back and say we need to do the same thing. Well you can copy others... but if you always copy others, you never get ahead.

The one lesson I've learned from technology and food is the only time you know you're doing the wrong thing is when you're doing what everyone else is doing.

I have an almost complete disregard of precedent, and a faith in the possibility of something better. It irritates me to be told how things have always been done. I defy the tyranny of precedent. I go for anything new that might improve the past.

I get a kick out of being an outsider constantly. It allows me to be creative.

To create a new standard, you have to be up for that challenge and really enjoy it.

You know that I'm always a proponent of doing things differently.

Every film has to be the next something else; originality isn't celebrated because you can't market it.

If you are doing what everyone else is doing, there is probably not an opportunity there.

I'm always drawn to writing things that feel like uncharted territory.

In life, a lot of great ideas sound insane or absurd at first.

We need the disruption of categories that lead us to abandon the difficult, the disagreeable, and the least likely to go very far.

I always want to do things that are different. I don't want to be doing the same thing, the same performance constantly, and it feels like most people tell you that they are the same. However different you feel might approach them.