"Well, I've always just - I've never really gone out looking for work. I always waited for it to sort of hit me on the head"
About this Quote
The subtext is a defense of a certain artistic posture: receptivity over pursuit. For an architect, that’s especially loaded. Architecture is one of the most client-driven arts on earth, yoked to budgets, committees, zoning boards, and the politics of taste. By claiming he didn’t chase jobs, Gehry recasts those constraints as fate and opportunity rather than compromise. It’s a way of preserving the romance of authorship in a field that often feels like managed service work.
Context matters: Gehry’s ascent wasn’t instantaneous. He spent years on the margins of mainstream respectability, making rough, experimental forms and using humble materials before the global “starchitect” era turned signature style into currency. The line reads as both disbelief and critique: his breakthrough projects didn’t come from perfect planning, but from a culture finally ready to reward the weird. Waiting, here, isn’t laziness; it’s stubborn patience - and a reminder that creative careers are often shaped less by ambition than by timing, gatekeepers, and the sudden alignment of risk and appetite.
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Citation Formats
APA Style (7th ed.)
Gehry, Frank. (2026, January 16). Well, I've always just - I've never really gone out looking for work. I always waited for it to sort of hit me on the head. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/well-ive-always-just-ive-never-really-gone-out-117318/
Chicago Style
Gehry, Frank. "Well, I've always just - I've never really gone out looking for work. I always waited for it to sort of hit me on the head." FixQuotes. January 16, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/well-ive-always-just-ive-never-really-gone-out-117318/.
MLA Style (9th ed.)
"Well, I've always just - I've never really gone out looking for work. I always waited for it to sort of hit me on the head." FixQuotes, 16 Jan. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/well-ive-always-just-ive-never-really-gone-out-117318/. Accessed 12 Feb. 2026.






