Todd Haynes Quotes

As an actor, you think you have to go really far and deep and cry and yell to be good in a scene. Sometimes that's not the point.

I'm not boisterous. I just let the work speak for itself.

I would almost say that the best screen actor is the man who can do nothing extremely well.

If a young lady has that discretion and modesty without which all knowledge is little worth, she will never make an ostentatious parade of it, because she will rather be intent on acquiring more than on displaying what she has.

I always wanted to be a comedian and actor. I basically stumbled into the music medium, though. I'm OK, but that's about it. I like to think I'm good enough not to negatively affect the performance.

Was I ignorant, then, when I was seventeen? I think not. I knew everything. A quarter-century's experience of life since then has added nothing to what I knew. The one difference is that at seventeen I had no 'realism'.

Patience is timing, just being humble and being the most quiet person in the room.

I think it's a room full of insecure actors, which is ultimately very comforting.

Knowing what you can not do is more important than knowing what you can do. In fact, that's good taste.

If only loud people were even half as interesting as they think they are.

The wiser a man is, the less talkative will he be.

It's always hard as an actor I think to be just on the set and have the kind of confidence to be like, 'Yeah, I did that. That went perfectly. That's great.' That's more confidence than I have.

To be an actor, a lot of times it's a strange combination of high confidence and low self-esteem. Which is a weird combination to have, but I think it's sort of very common among actors.

I think if you know what you believe, it makes it a lot easier to answer questions. I can't answer your question.

A period of silence on your part would be welcome.

One of the things that made me long to be back in prison was that I had so little opportunity for reading, thinking and quiet reflection after my release. I intend, amongst other things, to give myself much more opportunity for such reading and reflection.

He who, though dressed in fine apparel, exercises tranquillity, is quiet, subdued, restrained, chaste, and has ceased to find fault with all other beings, he indeed is an ascetic.

My advice to any actor who's playing, quote, unquote, "extra" to think of it more like Stanislavski did. It's not a small part. You are the lead in the movie, in your own movie.

The most silent people are generally those who think most highly of themselves.

I think most great actors have their own life trajectory, the character motion doesn't have anything to do with their life motion.

Only silence is great; all else is weakness.

As time goes on, I get more and more convinced that the right method in investment is to put fairly large sums into enterprises which one thinks one knows something about and in the management of which one thoroughly believes. It is a mistake to think that one limits one's risk by spreading too much between enterprises about which one knows little and has no reason for special confidence. . . . One's knowledge and experience are definitely limited and there are seldom more than two or three enterprises at any given time in which I personally feel myself entitled to put full confidence.

I read," I say. "I study and read. I bet I've read everything you read. Don't think I haven't. I consume libraries. I wear out spines and ROM-drives. I do things like get in a taxi and say, "The library, and step on it." My instincts concerning syntax and mechanics are better than your own, I can tell, with all due respect. But it transcends the mechanics. I'm not a machine. I feel and believe. I have opinions. Some of them are interesting. I could, if you'd let me, talk and talk.

I finally feel like I'm becoming somebody. I really think like I can do something. I just know I'm going to be an actress. I want it so bad.

A woman of mystery is one who also has a certain maturity and whose actions speak louder than words. Any woman can be one, if she keeps those two points in mind. She should grow up-and shut up.