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| Image courtesy mariashriver.com |
I don’t know about you, but I have always been a fan of quotes. It goes back to my high school days, when my Civics teacher, Mr Alstrum, used to have quotes written on the board in the classroom. The first I remember really taking to heart was a Chinese Proverb: “Talk does not cook rice.” This perfectly encapsulated my personal creed in as few words as possible: Only action can make a real difference for myself and others. Since then I’ve amassed a few other favorite quotes, ranging from motivational, “You miss 100% of the shots you don’t make,” (Wayne Gretzky) to the tongue-in-cheek, “Time flies like an arrow. Fruit flies like a banana.” (Groucho Marx)
As a business owner (remember, as actors we ARE business owners), motivational quotes can make a huge difference is providing a little “willpower kick” when times are tough. They not only soothe but they can also teach us something about the world or help us to see things from an angle we never have before.
I’ve scoured the internet to find the best 42 quotes to help you navigate this business. Leave a comment and let me know what you think!
ON ACTING:
“I regard the theatre as the greatest of all art forms, the most immediate way in which a human being can share with another the sense of what it is to be a human being.” - Thornton Wilder
"Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up." – Pablo Picasso
“Acting deals with very delicate emotions. It is not putting up a mask. Each time an actor acts he does not hide; he exposes himself.” - Jeanne Moreau
“If you’re the type of person who has to fulfill your dreams, you’ve gotta be resourceful to make sure you can do it. I came out to California when I was 21, thinking my New York credentials would take me all the way. I came back home a year later all dejected and a failure.” – Vin Diesel
“Acting is all about honesty. If you can fake that, you've got it made.” - George Burns
“To grasp the full significance of life is the actor's duty, to interpret it is his problem, and to express it his dedication.” - Marlon Brando
“First of all, I choose the great [roles], and if none of these come, I choose the mediocre ones, and if they don't come, I choose the ones that pay the rent.” - Michael Caine
“I’m an assistant storyteller. It's like being a waiter or a gas-station attendant, but I'm waiting on six million people a week, if I'm lucky.” - Harrison Ford
ON PERSEVERANCE:
“I’ve missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games. 26 times I’ve been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.” – Michael Jordan
“Everyone has talent. What is rare is the courage to follow the talent to the dark place where it leads.” - Erica Jong
“There is only one way to avoid criticism: do nothing, say nothing, and be nothing.” – Aristotle
“The question isn’t who is going to let me; it’s who is going to stop me.” – Ayn Rand
“When everything seems to be going against you, remember that the airplane takes off against the wind, not with it.” – Henry Ford
“The difference between perseverance and obstinacy is that one comes from a strong will; and the other from a strong won’t.” - Henry Ward Beecher
“The most difficult thing is the decision to act, the rest is merely tenacity.” – Amelia Earhart
“Whenever you find whole world against you just turn around and lead the world.” - Unknown
ON MOTIVATION AND TAKING ACTION:
“Build your own dreams, or someone else will hire you to build theirs.” – Farrah Gray
“The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is now.” – Chinese Proverb
“The person who says it cannot be done should not interrupt the person who is doing it.” – Chinese Proverb
“The minute that you’re not learning I believe you’re dead.” – Jack Nicholson
“Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” - Albert Einstein
“Courage is doing what you're afraid to do. There can be no courage unless you're scared.” - Eddie Rickenbacker
“Desire is the starting point of all achievement, not a hope, not a wish, but a keen pulsating desire which transcends everything.” - Napoleon Hill
“Vision without action is daydream. Action without vision is nightmare.” - Japanese Proverb
“I wondered why somebody didn’t do something. Then I realized, I am somebody.” — Unknown
ON MAKING A DIFFERENCE:
“I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” – Maya Angelou
“Be nice to people on the way up, because you may meet them on the way down.” – Jimmy Durante
“How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world.” – Anne Frank
"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever has." - Margaret Mead
“If you want to lift yourself up, lift up someone else.” – Booker T. Washington
“Don’t ask yourself what the world needs, ask yourself what makes you come alive. And then go and do that. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.” – Howard Washington Thurman
“Be the change you wish to see in the world.” - Mahatma Gandhi
ON SELF-IMAGE AND STAYING POSITIVE:
“Getting ahead in a difficult profession requires avid faith in yourself. That is why some people with mediocre talent, but with great inner drive, go much further than people with vastly superior talent.” - Sophia Loren
“You’re only human. You live once and life is wonderful, so eat the damned red velvet cupcake.” – Emma Stone
“Respect your efforts, respect yourself. Self-respect leads to self-discipline. When you have both firmly under your belt, that’s real power.” – Clint Eastwood
“We are always more anxious to be distinguished for a talent which we do not possess, than to be praised for the fifteen which we do possess.” - Mark Twain
“Remember no one can make you feel inferior without your consent.” – Eleanor Roosevelt
“Always be a first-rate version of yourself, instead of a second-rate version of somebody else.” - Judy Garland
“Life is 10% what happens to me and 90% of how I react to it.” – Charles Swindoll
“Whether you think you can or you think you can’t, you’re right.” – Henry Ford
“The most common way people give up their power is by thinking they don’t have any.” – Alice Walker
“What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
Which is your favorite quote from above? Or have a favorite quote you’d like to add? Share it in the comments below!
Erin Cronican's career as a professional actor and career coach has spanned the last 25 years in New York City, Los Angeles and San Diego. She has a weekly "Expert" column on the business of acting at Backstage magazine. As an actor, Erin has appeared in major feature films and on television, and has appeared Off Broadway, regionally and on national tour with both plays and musicals. She has worked in the advertising & marketing departments of several major corporations, film production companies, theater magazines, and non-profit acting organizations. To learn more, check out www.theactorsenterprise.org.
