Whit Stillman Quotes

The great and invigorating influences in American life have been the unorthodox: the people who challenge an existing institution or way of life, or say and do things that make people think.

I think everybody's crazy, and if I'm the one being a little direct about it, that's fine by me.

I probably am. I think Paul Giamatti also said in an interview that I was "f--king crazy." I'm flattered by that. I want to be that guy who's nuts who makes people think.

I dont like doing whats expected. Ive always done best when Ive listened to my instincts rather than following convention or doing what other people think I should do.

I feel the craziest people are sometimes the most intelligent.

I think there's always a call for people who are bucking the norm.

They think I'm crazy and maybe I am. But maybe I'm a genius.

Creative people are often considered crazy but I believe crazy can be a good thing.

If you make a show of going against the times, flaunting your unconventional ideas and unorthodox way, people will think that you only want attention and that you look down upon them.They will find away to punish you for making them feel inferior. It is far safer to blend in and nurture the common touch. Share your originality only with tolerant friends and those who are sure to appreciate your uniqueness.

On a personal level, Freaking Out is a process whereby an individual casts off outmoded and restricting standards of thinking, dress, and social etiquette in order to express creatively his relationship to his immediate environment and the social structure as a whole.

You know, I hate to borrow Apple's tag, but think different. Really. From the very beginning. I didn't know what the fast-food rules were. I got my training at the Culinary Institute Of America, and then I opened up a fast food place according to fine dining rules.

In a certain way, my work had set me up to be against lots of things. If there wasn't some sort of sanction for it in the public world, it might have been...it wouldn't have been tolerated, because people don't want things to get shaken up.

I think that all creative people are a little bit nuts.

If you can't be unconventional, be obtuse. Be deliberately obtuse, because there are 5 billion people out there thinking in train tracks, and thinking what they have been taught to think.

The truth is I like the crazy ones better than the well-behaved ones normally because they tend to be the passionate ones. They never come after you if you're holding up your end. The only thing that's bad about an abusive director is that they bully the people they can.

The only people who get paid what they're worth are people who don't follow the instruction book, who create art, who are innovative, who work without a map.

A popular author is one who writes what the people think. Genius invites them to think something else.

We want a few mad people now. See where the sane ones have landed us!

Laugh. Laugh as much as you can. Laugh until you cry. Cry until you laugh. Keep doing it even if people are passing you on the street saying, "I can't tell if that person is laughing or crying, but either way they seem crazy, let's walk faster." Emote. It's okay. It shows you are thinking and feeling.

I have a new way of doing things, and I don’t care if you think I’m crazy.

If things get too much for you and you feel the whole world's against you, go stand on your head. If you can think of anything crazier to do, do it.

The interesting adults are always the school failures, the weird ones, the losers, the malcontents, this isn’t wishful thinking. It’s the rule.

To be an artist, you have to nurture the things that most people discard.

I'm the crazy one who thinks that words reach people.

I think it takes a little bit of crazy to make a difference in this world.