Sandra Bernhard Quotes

The only reason I figured out I didn't like my old records to listen was I could hear how nervous I was and how uncomfortable I was. And who would want to sit around and listen to yourself being uncomfortable?

I wonder, 'Why did I do that line that way?' And I also constantly think I'm fat and hate my teeth. But I've gotten better over the years. I've started to accept.

I think that maybe that's my weakness, in that I don't know how to do it, so I just do what I do and try to do it as passionately and as well as I can.

I never really got on my own case about my own acting. I know a lot of other people have, and probably very justifiably. But I don't worry about stuff like that too much.

Actors, by nature, are insecure. I don't see that as necessarily a bad thing. It is good to question yourself, be self-analytical. You get a better performance if you challenge yourself. If you go around thinking you're great, you're never going to challenge or scare yourself.

I uplift people and see the good in a bad situation. The worst is I'm very critical of myself. If I do a performance, I watch it 100 times afterwards and pick it apart.

You can criticize yourself to a point to do something better, or you criticize yourself to a point where you inhibit yourself.

Well, of course, every actor's limited, and I am the first one to admit it, in all honesty, when I think that I've hit the wall a bit. I'm not ashamed at all, I think it's a process that you have to go through. That's how you learn.

I've very critical of myself, and film has been an adjustment for me.

I try to create a challenge for myself in each book. And sometimes, believe me, I just kick myself afterwards, and say, 'Why on earth did you ever attempt this, you idiot!' But I'm always better for the experience.

I started second-guessing myself and was always questioning myself. I have really learned a lot.

I look back at old photographs and videotapes, and I go, Who was I trying to be? Who was I doing this for?

Your harshest critic is always going to be yourself. Don't ignore that critic but don't give it more attention than it deserves.

I have resolved on an enterprise that has no precedent and will have no imitator. I want to set before my fellow human beings a man in every way true to nature; and that man will be myself.

The director calmed me down and told me I was being too hard on myself. He went on to say that I wasn't quite as bad as I thought, but needed to tone things down a bit.

I just have to be myself. I'm not perfect, and I'm going to make mistakes; I might say the wrong thing. I have to be responsible to my community, and I feel like I am, but then I have to not be so hard on myself.

I reached a point where I didn't think I was that great. I'm not being humble. I was looking at things and thinking: 'You're not really good in that'. I think I was becoming boring as well as bored. It was nobody's fault except mine - probably - and it might not even be my fault.

If you don't second-guess yourself, then you are not trying to get better.

Everything I'm saying shouldn't be taken so serious. I'm playing, but at the same token, I'm acknowledging that I'm not always the perfect man; I'm not always doing the right things. That's who I am. I'm working to be better.

I sometimes truly despair at ever being meaningfully altered and affected by the things I claim are so important to me.

No one is perfect and everyone wishes they could change something about themselves.

I always say I've given 24 insufficient performances and I'm looking forward to the time in my life when I'll do something that I think is good. There's always stuff you can do better, stuff that maybe you didn't uncover enough. But if you do something that you truly believe is perfect, then that's got to be the last movie you do.

Authenticity is the ability to listen to what nature tells us. Listening isn't the same thing as never making a mistake, but the important thing is to learn.

The selfish thing about an athlete is you always look at the side of things where you say I could've done that better.

I don't ever watch myself. By watching, you try to perfect yourself, become a robot.