Henri Frederic Amiel Quotes

There is a part of your brain that has to stop when you're acting. You have to be in the moment and dare to fly. Words can't be on your mind.

Sometimes I think your intellect can get in your way as an actor or an artist. When you come from a world of improv and comedy, you're able to let it flicker and fall out.

I try not to intellectualise what I do.

I try to say something about the human condition whenever I can when I'm lucky.

Life isn't a science. We make it up as we go.

It's important not to think too much about what you do.

I love flying by the seat of my pants, going at something instinctually.

Sometimes people have this notion that improvisation is simply intuitive leaping into the unknown.

I typically try not to think too hard about what I'm going to do in a certain scene with a certain actor in a certain moment because I think that kind of lends its way to not being as improvisational and sort of carefree as one would hope.

Jazz has a lot to do with being very present. You know the structure, then you flow through it.

If someone comes in and says, "What are you doing," if I'm honest, the answer is, "I don't know. But I'm doing THIS, don't know why."

I am very mistrustful of people who are constantly over intellectualising things. It kills passion. You have to allow yourself to lose control from time to time.

A lot of young actors have the idea that, "I've got to do this right. There's a right way to do this." But there's no right or wrong. There's only good and bad. And "bad" usually happens when you're trying too hard to do it right. There's a very broad spectrum of things that can inhibit you. The most important thing for actors - and not just actors, but everybody - is to feel loose enough to create what you want to create, and be free to try anything. To have choices.

Nobody teaches life anything.

Self-consciousness is the enemy of all art, be it acting, writing, painting, or living itself, which is the greatest art of all.

Writing is like sex. The more you think about it, the harder it is to do. It's better not to think about it so much and just let it happen.

Writing a story is kind of like surfing, as opposed to the novel, where you use a GPS to get somewhere. With surfing, you kind of jump.

I don't have a plan for a story when I sit down to write. I would get quite bored carrying it out.

When I do comedy, I lose all inhibition and introspection. I no longer care.

Jazz is all about improvisation and it's about the moment in time, doing it this way now, and you'll never do it this way twice. I've studied the masters. Why would I want to play ball after the guys who sit on a bench? I want to play like Michael Jordan.

It strikes me every time I do an interview that I don't really sit around thinking about my goals and my life and my career. I do what I love doing and I get a lot of feedback. I'm free as a bird, you know? If I do something good, it's, 'Wow, that was brilliant,' and if I do something bad, it just goes away.

I find it quite boring when people do things that are very considered and thought through. I like things best when they're just done because they're fun or beautiful, or simply because they are what that one person wanted to do at that one time.

I'm very unpredictable, but at the end of the day, I'm working. Sometimes things change in my life. It's like, 'Hold up - that ain't feel good. That felt good.' And that's how I look at anything I do.

I like uncertainty in roles, and I like uncertainty in art, really.

What you learn in any acting class is how to make a fool of yourself and enjoy things and get out of your head.