Malachi Kirby Quotes

The starkest rejection letter might be followed by a million-dollar advance. Don't let rejection start to look the same as failure.

The biggest hurdle is rejection. Any business you start, be ready for it. The difference between successful people and unsuccessful people is the successful people do all the things the unsuccessful people don't want to do. When 10 doors are slammed in your face, go to door number 11 enthusiastically, with a smile on your face.

Don't be afraid to fail. You're going to go on a million auditions, and most of them you won't get. It's very easy to think, 'This is not going to work for me,' but keep at it. It's very generic advice, but you have to be willing to keep yourself in the game.

If I went by all the rejection I've had in my career, I should have given up a long time ago.

I still take losing out very seriously. But it inspires me that much more to move on. Quite often in my business, it's not the most talented people that succeed. Because they don't necessarily have the tenacity to deal with rejection.

I had my years of struggling. Some of my shows failed miserably, and I was upset by it, and it dented my confidence. But I never stopped. I kept going for it. And when I returned to New York from Los Angeles, I mean, it was make it or not - that was my last chance. And what a great chance it was, to make it in my own hometown.

As important as hustle is, grit and resilience are equally as important because there's a lot of rejection in our business.

A lot of people have been rejected and they just give up. I have never had that mentality.

The early days were really difficult because it was constant no's, I didn't have an agent. I always knew that I had something to offer, but it just felt like I could never get someone to give me a chance.

You can make something out of every unfinished story and every rejection if you work at it.

You learn from being out of the team, but it makes you desperate for another chance, and when it comes along, you just have to grab it. Don't let go.

The best advice my dad ever gave me is, ‘No does not mean never. It just means not yet.’ So not every audition, you’re gonna get but as long as you know it wasn’t meant for you then you’ll get the next one.

My advice is that if you really want to be a screenwriter, get out here and be ready to take no for an answer many times until you find your way through it and are fortunate enough to get something made.

Good things don't happen by coincidence. Every dream carries with it certain risks, especially the risk of failure. But I am not stopped by risks. Supposed a great person takes the risk and fails. Then the person must try again. You cannot fail forever. If you try ten times, you have a better chance of making it on the eleventh try than if you didn't try at all.

I had my years of struggling. Some of my shows failed miserably, and I was upset by it and it dented my confidence. But I never stopped. I kept going for it.

The number of times I have fallen down is the number of times I have gotten up.

Rejection is part of the process, so you can't let it crush you. My first three novels never made it into publication, but my fourth, 'Sheltering Rain,' was translated into 11 languages.

A man is not finished when he is defeated. He is finished when he quits.

Ninety percent of the time, you're going to hear no. It took me seven years to make 'Once Upon a Time... When We Were Colored.' Nobody wanted to see the movie made. I got the movie made.

Don't get discouraged from all the rejection.

Before success comes in any man's life, he's sure to meet with much temporary defeat and, perhaps some failures. When defeat overtakes a man, the easiest and the most logical thing to do is to quit. That's exactly what the majority of men do.

The season of failure is the best time for sowing the seeds of success.

Unless you're willing to have a go, fail miserably, and have another go, success won't happen.

Every time I've failed, people had me out for the count, but I always come back.

We may encounter many defeats but we must not be defeated.