Selected career quotes

1. In my view, only those who have had the courage to work through Lacan's anti-philosophy without faltering deserve to be called 'contemporary philosophers'.

2. If you find yourself born in Barnsley and then set your sights on being Virginia Woolf it is not going to be roses all the way.

3. I may not have been sure about what really did interest me, but I was absolutely sure about what didn't.

4. I did not decide to become an officer to start a military career. I still wanted to be an agronomist and work in some remote corner of Russia after the war. I could not suppose that my country would change, and I would.

5. A lot of girls ask for advice on how to get into acting, and I'm kind of the worst person to ask, because it just kind of fell in my lap... I was just in the right place at the right time.

6. Well, I think every film student goes into film school thinking they want to write and direct their own movies, and they don't realize how much goes into it, and what a process it is.

7. From the moment I leave my house or my hotel room, the public owns me. The public made Alice Cooper and I can't imagine ever turning my back on my fans.

8. I grew up in Cambridge in England, and my love of mathematics dates from those early childhood days.

9. I had this rare privilege of being able to pursue in my adult life, what had been my childhood dream.

10. And my dad, you're a great actor but you're a better father.

11. Taking a year off and going to school was the best thing I could have done after The Princess Diaries. It taught me that I don't need Hollywood or a job to make me happy.

12. My entire film career's been dependent on my ability to look unattractive.

13. I would recommend all men in choosing a profession to avoid any that may require an apology at every turn; either an apology or else a somewhat violent assertion of right.

14. You specialize in something until one day you find it is specializing in you.

15. Unfortunately, it's possible to be able to do something extremely well that nobody ever wants done.

16. My first big acting performance was in the Marilyn Monroe biography piece, and it required frontal nudity. I talked to Mira Sorvino, my co-star, about how nervous I was because I didn't know how my mom would react. She said, 'Can I be completely honest with you? I've seen your mom in interviews, and she seems pretty screwed up. I don't think there's much you could do to shock a broad like that.' And from that moment on it was big nipples to the wind!

17. I never thought I'd land in pictures with a face like mine.

18. I probably hold the distinction of being one movie star who, by all laws of logic, should never have made it. At each stage of my career, I lacked the experience.

19. My biggest error? Something that is to happen yet.

20. I've lived on royalties all my life. It is the readers who have supported me.

21. I am a person always full of contradictions... It was hard to choose whether to devote myself to revolution as a soldier or as a writer.

22. All ballplayers should quit when it starts to feel as if all the baselines run uphill.

23. I wouldn't worry too much about your heart. You can always put that award where your heart ought to be.

24. I do not regret one professional enemy I have made. Any actor who doesn't dare to make an enemy should get out of the business.

25. I don't think of myself as a character actress - that's become a phrase which means you've had it.

26. I wanted to be the first to win three Oscars, but Miss Hepburn has done it. Actually it hasn't been done. Miss Hepburn only won half an Oscar. If they'd given me half an Oscar I would have thrown it back in their faces. You see, I'm an Aries. I never lose.

27. I was the Marlon Brando of my generation.

28. I will never be below the title.

29. I will not retire while I've still got my legs and my make-up box.

30. In this business, until you're known as a monster you're not a star.

31. Locations are all tough, all miserable. I never left the sound stage for 18 years at Warners. We never went outside the studio, not even for big scenes.

32. Today everyone is a star - they're all billed as 'starring' or 'also starring'. In my day, we earned that recognition.

33. I hope some historian will confirm that I was the first cartoonist to use the word 'booger' in a newspaper comic strip.

34. Music is 99% of my life. But I know I need a break. Besides, if you give people too much, they start to not want it. We need to restrain ourselves.

35. If you watch a game, it's fun. If you play it, it's recreation. If you work at it, it's golf.

36. All the information you need is available to you to have a successful career in music, if you're paying attention, and not closed off to anything. Remember, Perseverance is King.

37. A lot of musicians don't learn the business. You just have to be well-rounded in both areas. You have to understand publishing. You have to understand how you make money, what's in demand, what helps you make the most out of your talent.

38. I was hardly fit for human society. Thus destiny shaped me to be a science fiction writer.

39. I am a writer and always was; being a writer is an integral part of my identity. Being published, being well regarded, is a component of that identity.

40. It is comparatively easy to become a writer; staying a writer, resisting formulaic work, generating one's own creativity - that's a much tougher matter.

41. Is it some law of human nature that you inevitably become whatever your first commander was? I can quit right now, if that's so.

42. I am like a Rolls Royce which can run without an engine, just on reputation.

43. I dream for a living.

44. When I was at school, on certain afternoons we all had to do what was called Labour - weeding, sweeping, sawing logs for the boiler-room, that sort of thing; but if you had a chit from Matron you were let off to spend the afternoon messing about in the Art Room. Labour or Art. And you've got a chit for life? Where did you get it? What is an artist? For every thousand people there's nine hundred doing the work, ninety doing well, nine doing good, and one lucky bastard who's the artist.

45. (When asked for advice for younger musicians) 'Break windows, smoke cigars, and stay up late. Tell 'em to do that, they'll find a little pot of gold.'

46. Our colleges ought to have lit up in us a lasting relish for the better kind of man, a loss of appetite for mediocrities, and a disgust for cheapjacks. We ought to smell, as it were, the difference of quality in men and their proposals when we enter the world of affairs about us.

47. I didn't plan on rock 'n' roll. I wanted to learn jazz; I got to know some people doing rock 'n' roll with jazz, and I thought I could make money playing music. In rock 'n' roll you can realize anything that you can in jazz or anything. There's no limitation other than the beat. You have more freedom than you do in anything except jazz - which is dying - as far as making any money is concerned.

48. I'm tired of fighting.

49. 'I could do Rust in Peace again, but I don't want to. I could have followed that formula but, God, why? I would have to have done so much heroin and cocaine - and I wasn't going to. Not if I'm paying for it!' - on recording The System Has Failed

50. 'I think the music business will eventually crush me, but I [smiles]... I'm ready.' - in Strange Parallel

51. Before one is successful that is before any one is ready to pay money for anything you do then you are certain that every word you have written is an important word to have written and that any word you have written is as important as any other word and you keep everything you have written with great care. ~ Ch. 2

52. My family was musical on both sides. My father's family had a famous flautist and a classical pianist. My mother won a contest to be Shirley Temple's double -- she was the diva of the family. At 8, I learned how to play guitar. I used to play songs from the '20s, '30s and '40s in the kitchen for my grandmother. After my dad was a prisoner in Cuba for two years, we moved to Texas, where I was the only Hispanic in the class. I remember hearing 'Ferry Cross the Mersey,' by Gerry and the Pacemakers, and thinking, 'that had bongos and maracas -- that was really a bolero.' And the Beathles song, 'Till There was You' . . . also Latin. I wrote poetry, which got me into lyrics. Stevie Wonder, Carole King, Elton John pulled me into pop. I started singing with a band -- just for fun -- when I 17. And pretty soon, I was thinking I could sing pop in English as well as Spanish. And as you know, we did that and we broke through. But we waited until 1993 to release 'Mi Tierra' -- we wanted my fans to be rady for the traditional Cuban music. And then we kept adding: more Cuban influences, more Latin America. And, underneath it all, African drums and rhythm. The concept of '90 Millas' starts with the songs of the '40s. We invited 25 masters of Latin music -- giants on the cutting edge of creativity, musicians who pushed it out to the world, young Cuban artists and Puerto Ricans who are huge -- so we could blend cultures and generations. So it is like coming home, but not exactly to the old Cuba.

53. It seems to me that many writers, by virtue of environments of culture, art and education, slip into writing because of their environments. I became a writer in spite of my environments. Understand, I am not criticizing those environments. They were good, solid and worthy. The fact that they were not inducive to literature and art is nothing in their disfavor. Never the less, it is no light thing to enter into a profession absolutely foreign and alien to the people among which one's lot is cast; a profession which seems as dim and faraway and unreal as the shores of Europe. The people among which I lived - and yet live, mainly - made their living from cotton, wheat, cattle, oil, with the usual percentage of business men and professional men. That is most certainly not in their disfavor. But the idea of a man making his living by writing seemed, in that hardy environment, so fantastic that even today I am sometimes myself assailed by a feeling of unreality. Never the less, at the age of fifteen, having never seen a writer, a poet, a publisher or a magazine editor, and having only the vaguest ideas of procedure, I began working on the profession I had chosen. I have accomplished little enough, but such as it is, it is the result of my own efforts. I had neither expert aid nor advice. I studied no courses in writing; until a year or so ago, I never read a book by anybody advising writers how to write. Ordinarily I had no access to public libraries, and when I did, it was to no such libraries as exist in the cities. Until recently - a few weeks ago in fact - I employed no agent. I have not been a success, and probably never will be. But whatever my failure, I have this thing to remember - that I was a pioneer in my profession, just as my grandfathers were in theirs, in that I was the first man in this section to earn his living as a writer.

54. A man who devotes himself to this pursuit, body and soul, can scarcely fail to become rich. Very little brains will do:

55. This has been going on for 30 years. I've won all the prizes in Europe, every bloody one, so I'm delighted to win them all. It's a royal flush.

56. Who is Gloria Estefan today? I'm very fulfilled as a woman. I've been able to have a wonderful family life, a fantastic career. I have a lot of good friends around me. My family has been my grounding point, and rooted me deeply to the earth. . . I'm very happy. I've done everything I ever wanted to do. The key to me was -- I told my husband when we were in our 20s -- I'm going to work really hard, so one day I won't have to work so hard. And to me what that was, was having choices. And I do have choices now -- and I have take full advantage of that. It's important for me now to be here for my little girl [Emily, age 12]. My son is full grown -- and I know have quickly that goes. So, I'm balancing being a mother -- which to me is the most important role I have on this earth -- and still being creative, writing -- which is what I love to do. So, I've been able to branch out into not just writing songs like you have heard through the years -- but writing children's books, writing a screenplay. But at my core that's what I am: a writer. And that's what I enjoy doing behind the scenes: writing the songs for albums, recording it. And that's why you have seen me take more of a back seat to being the center of attention, and being out on tour and doing that kind of thing. I've stepped up a lot of my charity work. This year, the five concerts I did were all for charity: different ones and my own foundation. So, that's becoming a bigger and bigger part of my life -- as I wanted it to be. And [I keep] just growing and evolving.

57. A man must serve his time to every trade Save censure-critics are ready-made.

58. Check this joke out: (Pointing to the back of the room as if to relay his post-show whereabouts.) If you wanna talk to me after the show I'll be : fuckin' surprised.

59. I want to understand everything,' said Miro. 'I want to know everything and put it all together to see what it means.' 'Excellent project,' she [Jane] said. 'It will look very good on your resume. (Speaker for the Dead) Conversation between Miro and Jane.

60. I don't care what they say about me, just make sure they spell my name right!

61. In future I will live by my water-colours.

62. I would have preferred it if he'd followed his original ambition and become an architect.

63. I am often asked why I don't pass on to young people what I have accomplished over the years. Actually, I would like very much to do so. Ninety-nine percent of those who worked as my assistant directors have now become directors in their own right. But I don't think any of them took the trouble to learn the most important things.

64. As an eminent pioneer in the realm of high frequency currents... I congratulate you on the great successes of your life's work.

65. Working on the final formulation of technological patents was a veritable blessing for me. It enforced many-sided thinking and also provided important stimuli to physical thought. [Academia] places a young person under a kind of compulsion to produce impressive quantities of scientific publications - a temptation to superficiality.

66. The solution to this problem lies in the heart of mankind. If only I had known, I should have become a watchmaker. (1945)

67. There was a time when I led soldiers to battle, thinking I was doing my duty as a Russian patriot. However, I understood that we have been cheated, that people needed peace. . . . Therefore, my military career had to end. With no remorse, I could go back to my favorite occupation, working in the field.

68. Yea, let all good things await Him who cares not to be great But as he saves or serves the state. Not once or twice in our rough island-story The path of duty was the way to glory. He that walks it, only thirsting For the right, and learns to deaden Love of self, before his journey closes, He shall find the stubborn thistle bursting Into glossy purples, which outredden All voluptuous garden-roses.

69. Wow! Time flies when you're on TV.

70. Since I never thought I'd come this far, I honestly have no idea what will be next... I'm working on it though. I guess that above all I'd like to stay employed.

71. It got to a point where every script I was being offered involved some kind of nudity. And I had to say to myself, 'Okay, people want to see the girl from 'Who's the Boss' with her tits out.' I had to decide between eating and doing what I love, acting, or getting a job at the Burger King. So I went hooters to the wind, and now I live in a mansion.

72. Certainly one thing that I've learned is that it is important to pick a problem based on how much you care about it.

73. I have the rest of my life to play prostitutes, drug addicts and all of the good roles. But you can only wear a tiara for so long, and I'm kind of nearing the end of that.

74. I'm going back to my tour where I belong. The attention was more than I expected. The golf course wasn't a problem. It was just the things around it. All the preparation I've done in the last month weighed on me.

75. I knew Earl Warren very well, on a somewhat professional basis. Professional, as in I was a nine-year-old page boy and he was the Governor. We knew his children and played in the Governor's Mansion and so forth. I have a letter I've given to the Supreme Court Historical Society, in which he wrote and said, 'You're going to go very far in government.' I'm very proud of the fact that I knew well someone who later became the Chief Justice of the United States.

76. And when I saw that, I realized that selling was the greatest career a man could want. 'Cause what could be more satisfying than to be able to go, at the age of eighty-four, into twenty or thirty different cities, and pick up a phone, and be remembered and loved and helped by so many different people?

77. Nothing's Planted, I don't have a thing in the ground.

78. She's got a rum job, but she knows how to do it, and to have a job and know how to do it is one of the best things in this life. And if only she stops hankering after Cambridge...

79. I was born with something that appealed to an audience at that particular time...I acted instinctively. I've had one of the greatest schools of all - a whole row of great, great directors.

80. This could be the last and only opportunity I'd have to work with the great and lovely Audrey, and I was not missing it.

81. You take the Monroes and the Terry Moores, and you know just what you're going to get every time. With Audrey it's kind of unpredictable. She's like a good tennis player - she varies her shots.

82. I can't stand it! I know I've got the best tits on stage, and yet they're all staring at a girl who hasn't got any!

83. It was my good luck during that wonderful summer in Rome, to be the first of her screen fellows, to hold out my hand, and help her keep her balance as she did her spins and pirouttes. Those months were probably the happiest experience I ever had making movies.

84. It is the things which Ausonius reveals unconsciously that win him liking, not those which he sets out to celebrate with a kind of innocent pomp: not the chair of rhetoric at twenty-five, nor the imperial tutorship in his fifties, nor the consulship at sixty-nine, but that he loved and taught rhetoric all his life, and kept his simplicity.

85. Ayrton was the best friend I ever had in F1, closer to me than anybody else in the business. During my three years driving with him at McLaren, I came to realize that he was the best, one level higher than the rest of us.

86. I was proud to compete against him. Professionally, he was the only driver I respected. In Senna's honour, I will never sit in a Formula One car again.

87. Glad I'm not an astronaut...I'd be fucking dead.

88. I only fuck up that bad about once every two months ... which is a pretty high fuck-up ratio for a professional musician, when you think about it.

89. Performance number 1,000, if I play it that long, will take place in a well-padded booby-hatch.

90. I was never beautiful like Miss Hayworth or Miss Lamarr. I was known as the little brown wren. Who'd want to get me at the end of the picture?

91. I can tell you that tonight in Des Moines, Iowa, my home town, people all across the city will be putting a hand to their ears and saying 'What is that sound?', and it will be the sound of Mr De Vito, my High School Careers Officer, spinning in his grave.

92. Bill Clinton is generally viewed as one smart politician, having been twice elected the President, helped by lackluster Robert Dole, having survived the Lewinsky sex scandal, lying under oath about sex, and impeachment. When is it all about himself, he is cunningly smart.

93. We're like a really nice drink. We help people get through the day--we make life a little sunnier. I don't think we have any profound effect. If anybody has had a profound effect, it's The Beatles, and their effect is still minimal. There are things in the world way more important than music. Family is 50 times more important than music.

94. 'I just hoped that after the trials and tribulations of my early years in management, someone up high would smile on me and guide my hand. My plea was answered when we got Kenny Dalglish. What a player, what a great professional!'

95. I'm lucky that SFWA has such a short memory. I was always the Young Turk, the gadfly. Part of the New Wave, although I didn't fit in there either! I spent years, and two histories, putting the so-called Old Guard in their place, and now I'm one of them!

96. That first novel of mine, Non-Stop, is directly attributable to Heinlein. His 'Common Sense' seemed to me such a good story, but bereft of any human feelings. I thought long about that story, and then I thought how wonderful it would be to write about a spaceship in which people have been imprisoned for generations and to put in something of the human feeling. So that novel is directly attributable to Heinlein. I thought, in my youthful arrogance, that I could do it better - I didn't! I thought I could do it differently, and I think I did do it differently. And I suppose that on the whole, I've concentrated on doing things differently ever since.

97. At this point, I don't need my records to be Number One or sell as many as this person or that person. That's not fundamentally important - I don't believe that sustains you.

98. The first time I saw Bruce he was opening up for Jethro Tull, before he had a record deal. I went to see Bruce because I was singing in that area with different bands and I wanted to get in a good rock band and he had the best rock band.

99. In 1928, I made the worst mistake of my career. Against my better judgment I let Joe Schenck talk me into giving up my own studio to make pictures at the booming Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer lot in Culver City . . . they were picking stories and material without consulting me and I couldn't argue 'em out of it. I'd only argue about so far and then let it go. They'd say, 'This is funny,' and I'd say, 'It stinks.' It didn't make any difference. We did it anyhow.

100. I just want that one day, when I retire, that people still remember me like they remember Buster. I really want someone to respect me the way they respect Buster.