Garson Kanin Quotes

I never knew if I had any talent when I started in this business.

I never went to fashion school. I didn't know what a designer was. I knew I had something, but I didn't know what it was. And it could just have easily been nothing.

Anytime you write something, you go through so many phases. You go through the 'I'm a Fraud' phase. You go through the 'I'll Never Finish' phase. And every once in a while you think, 'What if I actually have created what I set out to create, and it's received as such?'

And I wasn't convinced that I was the most talented person in the world.

The fundamental cause of the trouble is that in the modern world the stupid are cocksure while the intelligent are full of doubt. Even those of the intelligent who believe that they have a nostrum are too individualistic to combine with other intelligent men from whom they differ on minor points.

Everybody doubts themselves. Every writer doubts themselves, every artist doubts himself, and every football player does.

The only virtue on which I pride myself is my self-doubt; when a writer loses her self-doubt, the time has come to lay aside her pen.

There were moments of despondency when Shakespeare thought himself no poet, and Raphael no painter; when the greatest wits have doubted the excellence of their happiest efforts.

I'm not a very methodologically pure actor. Almost every time that I start, I feel completely at sea. Always at the beginning I feel like a fraud, really, because I'm never sure how to get started.

I feel I've made the transition from model to actress, but I'm not that secure about it. Lauren Hutton, Jennifer O'Neill - we all know that a few films don't mean all that much.

I think every writer doubts themselves, every day. You procrastinate because you're afraid. You're always afraid it's not going to be as good as you want it to be. But, the key is overcoming fear.

Detroit is full of talent.

Everybody faces a blank piece of paper, no matter what they've written or painted or composed before. I can't imagine approaching every single new project with-without doubt.

I think you're not a human being unless you have doubts and fears.

I don't even know if I can call myself a director.

One of the biggest obstacles I've overcome in my life was thinking I didn't deserve to be successful. Artistically I'm not as much of a heavyweight as someone like Paul Simon or Joni Mitchell, because I'm not a creator of original music, and I worried about that for years.

I'd be lying if I said I had confidence in every choice I've made, that I have faith in every film I do on every shot.

Like anybody, you have moments when you question yourself and you're insecure.

I still don't know if I can write songs. I don't think anyone ever knows if they can write songs.

Who knows, maybe I am simply a talented architect?

I lost my confidence.

When I finished a song that I thought was good, I thought, I don't know where that came from, so I have no idea if I can do that again. I'm talking like, a hundred and fifty songs down the line. I still feel that.

I won't lie, I've had a lot of discouraging moments in the past years, moments I wasn't sure about things and doubted myself.

Self-doubt kills talent.

All artists have insecurity.