“When you are on a major record label, you're just forced to think big. You are forced to think about things like "how many radio spins did we get this week?" or "how many albums did we sell across the country. Being independent, you are just focused on the city that you are playing in tonight. How many people can I meet and become friends with tonight. That's one of the great things about being an independent artist.” PeopleThinkingCountryArtistWeekIndependentFocusedGreat ThingsThink Big Author:Graham Colton
“Why would one's identity be a matter of feelings? I think that that's a misuse of terms, philosophically. Identity is mind independent. It's something that is objective, regardless of how you feel. So, the term gender identity seems to me to be something of an oxymoron. It's not really about one's identity. It's rather a matter of one's self-perception or one's feelings about oneself.” ThinkingMindFeelingsTermIdentityIndependentOneselfGenderOxymoron Author:William Lane Craig
“When you're younger you don't care so much, but as you get older you have a family and stuff like that. But I've always kept my foot in theatre and I've kept my foot in independent film, so I'm really happy going back and forth. So, if I can't find the meaty roles in studio films, then I'll go back and dig up a little independent where I can flex my muscles a little bit.” CareFilmIndependentTheatreReally Happy Author:Patrick Wilson
“I consider myself to be a feminist. My hope and goal is that I'm going to raise two very strong independent women that won't need anybody, unless they chose that. I want them to be mistresses of their own destiny. But I don't judge people on the other end of that spectrum either.” PeopleStrongGoalDestinyJudgingIndependentFeministVery StrongMistressIndependent Women Author:Audra McDonald
“I think polling is important because it gives a voice to the people. It gives a quantitative, independent assessment of what the public feels as opposed to what experts or pundits think the public feels. So often it provides a quick corrective on what's thought to be the conventional wisdom about public opinion. There are any number of examples that I could give you about how wrong the experts are here in Washington, in New York and elsewhere about public opinion that are revealed by public opinion polls.” PeopleThinkingGivingImportantOpinionIndependentElsewhereConventional Wisdom Author:Andrew Kohut
“I think polling is the best way of gauging public opinion - doing something that's independent, that's quantitative, that doesn't give just the loud voices about how things are going; or doesn't give so called experts the notion that they know what public opinion is. I think that's what makes public opinion polling pretty important. Qualitative assessments of public opinion; going out and talking to people and understanding the nuance to what's behind the numbers. I think it's awfully important as well.” PeopleThinkingGivingImportantUnderstandingOpinionIndependent Author:Andrew Kohut
“In London, there must be thousands of people in the business of making films, whereas in Nottingham or Sheffield, you're probably talking about below a hundred. So there aren't thousands of people scrapping for the same money and for the same jobs. I went out in Nottingham the other night and there's a really beautiful community of people who are really supportive. It's not this back-stabbing thing, high-rent, high-cost, high-tension. Up here we are independent filmmakers and there's a lovely sense of camaraderie.” PeopleBeautifulFilmNightCommunityIndependentLovelyFilmmakerSupportiveReally BeautifulCamaraderie Author:Shane Meadows
“The chance to tell personal, language-specific, culturally specific stories is really flourishing on TV and I think it's just the nature of movies and international demands that you need to get a much bigger audience. TV is more like independent film was. The forms of adult drama and certain kinds of sophisticated comedy, there's no room for them in the tentpole movie universe.” ThinkingKindFilmUniverseChanceAudienceComedyDramaIndependentSophisticated Author:Matthew Weiner
“My view is, in between environmental determinism and personal responsibility, we say, "where there's a will there's a way." It's not true. You really need both and they're somewhat independent. We must both cultivate will and pave the way. If you inspire an impassioned people so that they have the will but there's no way, all around them are walls with no doors or windows. It's terribly frustrating. On the other hand, if you put a very nice way at their feet and they have no will to follow it, that doesn't produce anything very good either. Will is not way. You need both.” PeopleResponsibilityNiceInspireWallWindowIndependentEnvironmentalVery GoodFrustratingPersonal ResponsibilityVery NiceDeterminism Author:David Katz
“Virgil Thomson, the great classical music critic, who was also a composer, but said that criticism was the only antidote he knew to pay publicity. Critics at their best are independent voices people take seriously their responsibility to see as many things as they can see, put them in the widest possible perspective, educate their readers, I really do think of myself as a teacher. Newspapers that don't carry arts criticism at all while not fulfill this function. And probably their arts journalism will be deprived as a result.” PeopleThinkingArtResponsibilityTeacherPerspectiveCriticismIndependentCriticsJournalismEducateComposerClassical Music Author:Terry Teachout
“I see basically two models of law firms in the world. One of the global law firm they go by the name of one-stop shops, which will open an office, everybody see and opportunity and will also practice the local law of that jurisdiction. That's a successful model as well but that's not the only model. And the other model is those of independent law firms, national champions which have some unique strengths as well and I think both have their strengths and weaknesses.” ThinkingWorldOpportunitySuccessfulOfficeUniqueWeaknessIndependentFirmChampion Author:Cyril Shroff
“There has to be a kind of grassroots push, a movement, as it were, against the inherent isolationism of American capitalism as practiced in the publishing industry. There need to be grants and government support and a few publishers, mainstream and independent, who are not afraid to challenge American readership. We need to build a network of translators, publishers and readers. We hope that our annual anthology might provide an upsurge in interest for European fiction and then, as we publish it every year, become a habit to many readers.” KindInterestChallengesSupportHabitCapitalismIndependentNot AfraidPublishingPublishTranslators Author:Aleksandar Hemon
“I think fully, that an independent candidate can't win in this country. The Constitution is structured for basically a two-party government, a two-party race.” ThinkingCountryWinningConstitutionIndependent Author:Michael Bloomberg
“I have walked away from enormous amounts of money and I have made that life I have wanted somewhat in this business. I love doing independent film, I love doing theater, I love doing studio films, and I do all three now.” FilmIndependent Author:Patricia Clarkson
“I like the direct contact. I want a lot of people that only know me through the mass media to learn more about what I'm doing, and to know that I'm an independent filmmaker and I'm not part of the Hollywood system. I'm coming from where they started. I'm not coming from a family with a lot of money.” PeopleDirectIndependentFilmmakerKnow MeMass Media Author:Uwe Boll
“Artists make their work to be seen by others. Well, really we do it to please ourselves, but whatever your art is, you want it to be seen by an audience. In theory, especially in the independent world, ironically, you do stand a chance of making a bit of money if the film gets distribution.” WorldArtFilmArtistChanceAudienceArt IsIndependent Author:Alex Cox
“Independent means one thing to me: It means that regardless of the source of financing, the director's voice is extremely present. It's such a pretentious term, but it's auteurist cinema. Director-driven, personal, auteurist... Whatever word you want. It's where you feel the director, not a machine, at work. It doesn't matter where the money comes from. It matters how much freedom the director has to work with his or her team. That's how I personally define independent movies.” MeanTermTeamIndependentPretentiousFinancing Author:Alexander Payne
“A lot of people get stuck, like, "Oh, if it's made by a studio, it can't be independent." Often they link it to the source of financing, or how it's distributed, but I don't really know how you can. A filmmaker will take his money from anywhere. It doesn't matter.” PeopleIndependentStuckFilmmakerFinancing Author:Alexander Payne
“Whenever I'm asked about independent cinema, I think of what Fidel Castro said during the Cold War about the league of non-aligned nations. He said that really, there were only two non-aligned nations: the U.S. and the USSR. The rest of us have to be aligned somewhere. I say similarly, in a way, Paramount, Sony, and Warner Bros. are the only true independents, because they're the only ones who can do whatever they want and have distribution for their films built in.” ThinkingWarFilmColdIndependentLeagueCold WarCastroUssr Author:Alexander Payne
“I can't afford back up vocalists; they're so expensive. Because I'm independent - I'm not signed to a major label, which a lot of people don't know, and it doesn't matter anyway. I can't just have an eight-piece band touring. One day - definitely. That's like a goal.” PeopleGoalOne DayIndependent Author:Nick Murphy
“Hollywood is so fixated on keeping it that way because it's generating the buzz, but that representation isn't right. I definitely feel like it's getting better - it's not only for blacks, but for people that are of all different skin colors. It is very important that black independent films get seen. We need to start getting used to black people. They exist. And they've been around for a long time. It's amazing that people still feel, "Oh my gosh, it's a black guy."” PeopleLongImportantDifferentFilmGuyBlackSkinsIndependentGet BetterBlack PeopleRepresentationOh My Gosh Author:John Boyega
“I don't think the audience goes and thinks of the movie as a piece of art - there are some independent people who may go and have a higher appreciation for filmmaking. It is a great art form, but I don't think you look at a painting and a movie with the same eye.” PeopleThinkingArtEyeAudiencePaintingIndependentAppreciationFilmmakingGreat Art Author:Antoine Fuqua
“Giancarlo Giammetti has a lot of nervous energy. He's a director, really. He was trying to direct the Valentino movie over my shoulder. I don't blame him - that's been his job for 50 years. But I had final cut in the movie by contract and I wouldn't have made the movie if I had not been completely independent.” TryingEnergyCuttingDirectIndependentBlameNervous Author:Matt Tyrnauer
“When I was doing Goodenough, I'd hired a few people to work in my office, but then, toward the end of the '90s, I decided that this is not what I should be doing. I didn't want to make a big company and have to hire lots of people. I felt like I was better as an independent or as a solo operator. So I made the decision to finish everything and work alone just with an assistant or two. Although maybe there isn't the potential that there is in having a bigger company, it's good for me.” PeopleDecisionOfficeIndependentDoing Good Author:Hiroshi Fujiwara
“When we started Nowhere, maybe the fashion industry recognized something was happening, but they just thought, Oh, those kids . . . whatever. They didn't know what was actually going on with us. Now we are those people in a sense - the current establishment. So I hope there's something happening that is new and independent that we know nothing about.” PeopleKidsFashionIndependentFashion Industry Author:Hiroshi Fujiwara
“It's been TV and a lot of independent films. I'm so happy and blessed to have all these opportunities. But I'm also working on somebody else's project.” FilmOpportunityIndependentBlessed Author:Billy Magnussen
“I'm inspired by strong, courageous women. My mother is the definition of a self-sufficient, independent woman whom I have always looked up to. I also greatly admire incredible women like Aung San Suu Kyi, and human rights attorney Nasrin Sotoudeh, who was wrongfully imprisoned for 4 years in Iran, simply for giving a voice to the voiceless and defending the helpless. And I'm in awe of the young Pakistani student and activist, Malala Yousafzai, for her bravery and resilience in the face of brutal repression.” GivingMotherStrongStudentsBraveryIndependentInspiredIncrediblesHuman RightsResilienceAdmireAweCourageousActivistBrutalHelplessAttorneyIndependent Women Author:Nazanin Boniadi
“You can do more of independent films. A Hollywood picture, you'll do one a year, one of those big blockbusters, right? Then you've gotta go to the gym to get in shape to do all of the running and shooting and diving and falling and hitting and all that stuff they do today.” RunningTodayFilmFallIndependentGym Author:Ben Gazzara
“Truth exists independent of style. It involves all kinds of issues. Properly considered, it's a quest, a pursuit. To say that vérité is more truthful than something that is narrated is just misplaced. Completely wrong. And the fact that people still talk about it as though they're really talking about something... it puzzles me greatly. A moment of reflection about it tells you that it makes no sense!” PeopleKindMomentsStyleReflectionIndependentAll KindsTruthfulPuzzles Author:Errol Morris
“I watch everything from independent art-house cinema to foreign film. I don't watch as many Hollywood blockbusters but once in a while, I'm curious. I like to see what's out there.” FilmIndependentCurious Author:Cherien Dabis
“I had been really obsessed with Jonestown for a long time - many years - and had read everything there was to read about it, seen all the footage and the documentaries. I found it really chilling in a personal way - the question of people submitting all their personal power and agency and independent thought it the name of a group or ideology. I could not find a way to write about it directly that didn't feel too heavy.” PeopleWritingLongIndependentIdeologyObsessedChillIndependent Thought Author:Danzy Senna
“I was really strict about my daughter sleeping in her own room, and now she's really independent and likes it that way. So I think for all new moms, I can totally see how you can get wrapped up in making your child 100% your time. But if you could just take 5% or 10% for yourself a day, it won't just make the difference in your confidence, but also your sanity. I think once you just set boundaries and how you're going to parent - everyone parents differently so I hate to be that person to tell them how anyone should parent, I think whatever works for you works.” ThinkingChildrenHateParentSleepMomDaughterI HateOur ChildrenIndependentBoundariesYour ChildrenMy DaughterSanity Author:Kim Kardashian
“I've always been very independent. Even in relationships, I'm focused on the quality of my life and not enmeshing myself so much with somebody else's experience. But I think there's incredible value in being married.” ThinkingValuesQualityMarriedIndependentIncrediblesFocusedBeing Married Author:Gwyneth Paltrow
“Increasingly, men are realizing exactly that - that having an educated, economically independent partner reduces the pressure on them to be the sole provider. Many men are also beginning to understand that participating in housework and childcare can be rewarding. Women with higher education and/or earnings are so much less likely than other women to divorce, that by age 40, they are more likely to be married than any other group of women.” MenAgeRealizingMarriedIndependentDivorceEducatedBeing MarriedHouseworkHigher Education Author:Stephanie Coontz
“My first book came out again - the re-issue from 2001. I was rereading it to make sure that I didn't miss any mistakes, and I didn't know who had written some of these stories. I really didn't. I am a different person now. It's weird. I think if stories are good, they have to have a life of their own that's independent of the writer. I like to think of my characters out there in other peoples' heads. That's a nice thing to think about.” ThinkingBookDifferentCharacterMistakeNiceMissingIndependent Author:Peter Orner
“If I had lost the popular vote but won the electoral college and in my first day as president the intelligence community came to me and said, "The Russians influenced the election," I would've never stood for it. Even though it might've advantaged me, I would've said, "We've got to get to the bottom of this." I would've set up an independent commission with subpoena power and everything else.” PresidentCommunityCollegeVoteIndependentElectionBottom Author:Hillary Clinton
“You know how some people are upwardly mobile? I'm sort of downwardly mobile in the publishing world, because of my sales figures and also because of the kind of books I write. Everything really counts on sales. I started out with a bigger press, my first few books. But I've always done some things with independent and small presses and small magazines and I always will.” PeopleWorldWritingKindBookDoneIndependentPublishing Author:Lynne Tillman
“I'm independent so I have the freedom to drop music whenever I want to. I strategically plan everything. I'm a Capricorn, so I'm a planner. I work very hard, but I'm a planner at the same time. I've just been stock piling all this time waiting for the right opportunity to put out music. With me being locked up to a contract, it took years for everything to pass.” OpportunityWaitingIndependentLocked Up Author:Marcus Ramone Cooper
“I do like ensemble work. I would like to do a lead role, though. I didn't shy away from that. I'm desperately looking for a lead role to do in a film, an independent film, and it just hasn't come my way yet. I'm desperately looking for that role that will put me in a lead category. Or a television series.” FilmIndependentMy WayShy Author:Allison Janney
“I've worked with a variety of presidents over the years on both sides of the aisle and congressmen and senators, so I'm not into trying to demonize anybody. It used to be that people would fight like hell on the floor of the house and they'd go have a beer together. Now it's like you're radioactive if you talk to the other side, which keeps us from getting anything done. I'm an independent personally, and I vote for who I believe will make the biggest difference.” PeopleTryingBelieveDoneTogetherFightingHouseI BelievePresidentHellLike YouVoteIndependentVarietyBeer Author:Marc Benioff
“Working with David Cronenberg or Darren Aronofsky or even Steven Soderbergh isn't really like a typical Hollywood movie. These are true artists, and have a certain amount of freedom when they work, and they're more like independent filmmakers making their way through big studios. I still don't feel like I've been part of the stereotypical Hollywood system.” ArtistIndependentFilmmaker Author:Vincent Cassel
“I've been on my share of network dramas and comedies, and the problem sometimes in a network is they have a single-minded focus on making the show true to whatever genre it is. If you're on a drama, it better be procedural, it better fulfill all the demands of a procedural show, and you better keep those episodes independent, so if I'm watching the show in seven years as its syndicated on some other cable network, I don't have to know what happened before or after the episode. If you're on a comedy, everything has to be funny and wacky and zany.” SometimesProblemComedyFocusShareDramaIndependentSevenWacky Author:Mark Feuerstein
“There are three people's careers I'd like to meld together into my own... Jay Z's for his business mindset, Macklemore's hustle as an independent artist, and Bob Marley's impact on the world and how refined and genuine his music is to this day.” WorldTogetherArtistMusic IsIndependentMindsetThis DayHustle Author:CJ Fly
“Whatever they are, can Comics be "Art"? Of course they can. The "Art" in a piece is something independent of genre, form, or material. My feeling is that most paintings, most films, most music, most literature and, indeed, most comics fail as "Art." A masterpiece in any genre, form or material is equally "good." It's ridiculous to impose a hierarchy of value on art. The division between high and low art is one that cannot be defended because it has no correlation to aesthetic response.” ArtFeelingsFilmValuesLiteratureFailingPaintingArt IsIndependentResponseRidiculousAestheticMasterpiece Author:Phoebe Gloeckner
“When you are playing a part like that where you have traveled - you begin to think, God what a great life. Independent, living alone and how dramatic.” ThinkingIndependentDramaticLiving Alone Author:Lauren Bacall
“Today, 90% of terrorist activity on the Internet takes place using social networking tools, be it independent bulletin boards. The most important terrorist communiques and videos are virtually all initially released on certain password-protected chat forums run by Al-Qaida supporters. These forums act as a virtual firewall to help safeguard the identities of those who participate, and they offer subscribers a chance to make direct contact with terrorist representatives, to ask questions, and even to contribute and help out the cyber jihad.” ImportantHelpingRunningTodayChanceIdentityInternetDirectIndependentTerroristSupporterSocial NetworkingSocial NetworkJihad Author:Evan Kohlmann
“In Africa, you only have an independent media in only eight African countries, so there is very little transparency. The best gift that rich countries can give Africa is Radio Free Africa and Radio Free Africa will do for Africa what Radio Free Europe did for Europe.” GivingCountryRichIndependentTransparencyBest Gift Author:George W. Bush
“I'm not very enthusiastic about smaller nations forming their own states, particularly those in the West, where they would, after gaining 'independence', remain in the alliances that are oppressing and plundering the entire world: like NATO or the European Union. The breaking of the great country of Yugoslavia into small pieces was a hostile, evil design by the West. The dissolution of Czechoslovakia after the so-called "Velvet Revolution" was a total idiocy. But Catalonia, if it became independent, would become one of the richest parts of Europe.” WorldCountryEvilDesignRevolutionIndependentEnthusiasticEuropean UnionNatoGreat CountryIdiocy Author:Andre Vltchek
“Ask anyone who makes a full-length movie that's shown in the art world if they'd rather have a career as a film director or as an artist. Invariably, they'd rather be known as a film director, because that's what they are. But there's not really a system of independent distribution anymore that allows for that, and so the art world has kind of become all-enveloping. It's absorbed all of these disciplines that don't have a home anymore.” WorldKindArtHomeFilmArtistDisciplineIndependent Author:Chris Kraus
“I have a bad rote memory, but I tend to learn through my experiences. And then when I went into the markets, and then starting my business as an entrepreneur, that affected my thinking a lot, too, because in order to be successful as both an investor and an entrepreneur, one has to be an independent thinker and bet against the consensus and be right. Because the consensus is built into the price, and if you're not an independent thinker in the markets you won't succeed. And if you're not an independent thinker as an entrepreneur starting out, you're not going to bring anything special.” ThinkingMemoriesSuccessfulSpecialSucceedIndependentEntrepreneurBeing SuccessfulThinkerInvestorsConsensus Author:Ray Dalio