Skip to main content

Creativity Quote by Moon Unit Zappa

"Every job I've ever gotten has been an accident. All the jobs I actually go after, I don't get"

About this Quote

Moon Unit Zappa’s line lands because it flips the usual success narrative into something both wry and oddly liberating: the harder she chases, the less it happens; the “accidents” are where her life actually advances. Coming from someone born into a famous, eccentric cultural machine, it’s also a quiet rebuke to the myth that careers are meritocratic arcs you can storyboard in advance. In entertainment especially, intention is often beside the point; timing, taste, networks, and sheer randomness do more hiring than ambition does.

The subtext is a negotiation with control. “Accident” here isn’t pure passivity; it’s a way of naming how opportunity tends to arrive sideways, through proximity, curiosity, and being available when the door cracks open. The second sentence sharpens the joke into a bruise: the jobs she “actually” goes after carry ego, expectation, and a story about who she wants to be. Not getting them punctures that story. The accident-jobs, by contrast, spare her the pressure of self-authorship. They let her plausibly claim she didn’t scheme her way in, which matters when your surname invites assumptions about nepotism, entitlement, or avant-garde cosplay.

Culturally, it reads like a pre-LinkedIn truth bomb. We’re trained to perform intentionality - the five-year plan, the hustle, the personal brand - but Zappa is pointing at the backstage mechanism: most careers are built on misfires, detours, and openings you didn’t know to want. The wit is that she makes that messy reality sound like a principle, almost a strategy: stop gripping the wheel so hard and you might finally move.

Quote Details

TopicCareer
SourceHelp us find the source
Cite

Citation Formats

APA Style (7th ed.)
Zappa, Moon Unit. (2026, January 16). Every job I've ever gotten has been an accident. All the jobs I actually go after, I don't get. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/every-job-ive-ever-gotten-has-been-an-accident-108639/

Chicago Style
Zappa, Moon Unit. "Every job I've ever gotten has been an accident. All the jobs I actually go after, I don't get." FixQuotes. January 16, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/every-job-ive-ever-gotten-has-been-an-accident-108639/.

MLA Style (9th ed.)
"Every job I've ever gotten has been an accident. All the jobs I actually go after, I don't get." FixQuotes, 16 Jan. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/every-job-ive-ever-gotten-has-been-an-accident-108639/. Accessed 11 Feb. 2026.

More Quotes by Moon Add to List
Moon Unit Zappa quote about accidental careers
Click to enlarge Portrait | Landscape

About the Author

USA Flag

Moon Unit Zappa (born September 28, 1967) is a Musician from USA.

25 more quotes available

View Profile

Similar Quotes

Lyle Lovett, Musician
Mackenzie Astin, Actor