Doug Liman Quotes

I fix things all the time. Every time I do a solo, I re-check it and correct things that don't hit the mark.

People call me a perfectionist, but I'm not. I'm a rightist. I do something until it's right, and then I move on to the next thing.

I always watch the work I do.

I never show anything to anybody until I've finished it.

I try and get it right the first time. I may rewrite a sentence four or five times, but I rarely go back and kill a whole page and rewrite it.

I am pretty tenacious as a perfectionist in terms of getting something right.

The dot stands for 'detail' - always be paying attention to detail. I feel that people take you as serious as you take yourself. I spent a lot of time working on my craft, developing my style, and after I came out of my little incubation, I promised that I would pay attention to detail.

When I was a carpenter, I once worked with this Russian lady architect. I would tell her, ‘Look, I’m terribly sorry, but I want to change that a half inch,’ and she would say, ‘No limit for better.’ I think that is a worthy credo. You keep on going until you get it as close to being right as the time and patience of others will allow.

We never let go. Ever. Even with punctuation. It's frightening. I can't see anyone from any record company ever writing an email to Neil and not getting it back, with corrections.

I used to play works in progress to people, but now I wait 'til it's finished, because you make excuses all the time: 'Well, there's gonna be an orchestra on it.' Rather than make excuses, wait 'til it's finished, and then they can say they don't like it.

I'm stubborn; I know what I want. I'll dedicate all my efforts to achieving it.

I've never been the type of person to jump up and throw out the album without it being what it's supposed to be.

If you get a sense that your writing isn't quite working, change it. Or cut it out. Don't just tell yourself it'll do, because it won't.

I think my stubbornness, hardheadedness and stupidity is what has allowed me to play for 20 years.

There's a fine line between stubbornness and the positive side of that, which is dogged determination.

If I'm going to do something, I'm going to spend however long it takes to get it right.

The difference between perseverance and obstinacy is that one comes from a strong will, and the other from a strong won't.

To be honest, I rewrote 'Wicked Nights' a number of times. I just wasn't happy with the end result.

I like spending a lot of time fine-tuning all the small characters. I think it really pays off.

They say that I'm stubborn, and my wife says that, too, but it's paid off so far.

My self-editing process is intense.

I can't leave the studio until everything is as it should be. And I can't put a record out unless I am completely happy with it. I never want to be at a signing and hear my album playing and think, 'Oh no, I could have done that top note better.'

I rewrite my books many times before submitting them, and after my editor takes a look I wind up rewriting some more! It's a good thing I learned at an early age to keep on trying. Stick to it, and eventually you'll get there.

Some people like to purge out a draft and just let it go and then go back and fix it, but I'm a writer-rewriter. I can't move on until I feel like it's presentable.

When I'm working on something, I proceed as if no one else will ever read it.