I am free, no matter what rules surround me. If I find them tolerable, I tolerate them; if I find them too obnoxious, I break them. I am free because I know that I alone am morally responsible for everything I do.
Be skeptical, question authority, be a rebel. Do not conform and don’t be ordinary. Remember, all human progress is the result of far-sighted people challenging orthodoxy, tradition and rich, powerful, vested interests.
All great truths begin as blasphemies.
If a musician dares to get out of the box he's been put in, people get confused. They want people where they can find them! I am fortunate in some respects as I've always been known as someone who 'moves around' and tries different things. But generally, we are supposed to stay where we're put.
I'm not a conventional leading man at all and have no wish to be.
When I was young, a lot of things were closed off to me. I was always told, 'Don't do this, you can't do that' - instead of stopping me, it made me think, 'I can do that, I must do that.'
The most unpardonable sin in society is independence of thought.
I believe rules are meant to be broken.
The real Jack Johnson was both more and less than those who loved or those who hated him ever knew. He embodied American individualism in its purest form; nothing - no law or custom, no person white or black, male or female - could keep him for long from whatever he wanted.
I like pushing boundaries.
If a Devil is one who dares, when others hold back, then I am happy to play the Devil in this Mystery, boy.
I've always been driven to buck the system.
The impossible - we are told - cannot be achieved. To overcome the 'impossible,' we need to use our wits and be fearless. We need to break the rules and to circumvent - some would one say to cheat.
I want to be different. If everyone is wearing black, I want to be wearing red.
People say women shouldn't have long hair over a certain age, but I've never done what everyone says.
I had my dreams, and even though everyone told me that they weren't practical, I knew in my heart that this is what I had to do. Even if it ended up being a failure, I had to make the attempt.
Questioning the status quo can result in banishment, imprisonment, ridicule or being burned at the stake, depending on your era, your locale, and the sacred cows you wish to butcher.
It's always better to shock people and change people's expectations than to give them exactly what they think you can do. It's not unexpected for me to be in a comedy film anymore; I'm no longer the underdog in that world. Not that I'm great or good at it or anything, it's just that I've done a bunch of them, so you're not shocked.
I think most of us are raised with preconceived notions of the choices we're supposed to make. We waste so much time making decisions based on someone else's idea of our happiness - what will make you a good citizen or a good wife or daughter or actress. Nobody says, 'Just be happy - go be a cobbler or go live with goats.'
I loved creating a series about the four Cabot sisters, who were not content to let their destinies be dictated to them. In 'The Trouble With Honor,' this desire became especially urgent when the sisters were faced with the prospect of losing their place in society. Eldest sister Honor led the charge. They were undaunted!
There was a time I desperately needed for the world to know that I was no category guy. My whole goal in life was to reach that certain success where people will say, 'Hey, that guy can do anything. He's the Evel Knievel of music. He's jumping over 15 buses!'
I believe we all have the capacity to be masters of many things, and there's nothing that we can't do. You can be a great actor and also be a great writer. There's so many things that all of us have the capacity to do. But somehow, life tries to convince us that we'd be lucky to do even one thing well, and I disagree.
American poetry is always about defining oneself individually,claiming one's right to be different and often to break taboos.
What we usually consider as impossible are simply engineering problems... there's no law of physics preventing them.
I have a tendency to kick it up. I like to rattle the cage.
