"If you want to have great success, you'd better give them what they want, but so be it"
About this Quote
The small hinge is the tag: "but so be it". It's resignation with a shrug, not a rallying cry. Benedict isn't celebrating audience sovereignty; he's conceding it. The subtext is a quiet conflict between craft and commerce. "Great success" becomes something slightly suspect, because it requires compliance. You can almost hear the unspoken alternative: you could make the work you want, but don't confuse that with mass approval or industry rewards.
Context matters: television and celebrity culture train performers to become legible products - personas audiences can instantly recognize and reconsume. Benedict's line captures that logic without naming it. It's also a self-protective truth: if you treat success as a market response, you don't have to take rejection as a verdict on your worth. The quote works because it compresses an entire career lesson into one blunt bargain, then punctures it with a sigh.
Quote Details
| Topic | Success |
|---|---|
| Source | Help us find the source |
| Cite |
Citation Formats
APA Style (7th ed.)
Benedict, Dirk. (2026, January 17). If you want to have great success, you'd better give them what they want, but so be it. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/if-you-want-to-have-great-success-youd-better-44246/
Chicago Style
Benedict, Dirk. "If you want to have great success, you'd better give them what they want, but so be it." FixQuotes. January 17, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/if-you-want-to-have-great-success-youd-better-44246/.
MLA Style (9th ed.)
"If you want to have great success, you'd better give them what they want, but so be it." FixQuotes, 17 Jan. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/if-you-want-to-have-great-success-youd-better-44246/. Accessed 4 Feb. 2026.






