Matt Dillon Quotes

I feel if I wanted to be taken seriously I have to study music the same way someone who wants to be a doctor would study medicine. You have to know your craft and by doing so I had to make sure to ignore what people were thinking as well.

The competition, the naysayers, the owners who talk too much. The people who don't think a 36-year-old can do what I do. I take a lot of pride in my craft, I work really hard at my craft everyday, and I'm a true professional.

I always believe that one can't interfere in another's work. Once I start work on any film, I surrender myself completely and blindly follow the director.

Unlike other young actors I've worked with who will remain nameless, Zoey Deutch and Lucy Fry would never go out partying after work, but would immediately hunker down to start working on the reams of labyrinthine dialogue they had to navigate for the next day's work.

I just think my work ethic really shows.

I've always worked. I have always been too responsible. But I don't know how to live any other way. I think that this discipline was also demanded of me by my work.

Modeling gave me a strong discipline of professionalism where you work very long hours.

I don't judge people who just hit "play," but I would judge myself if I did that. I wouldn't feel like I was earning my money, I'd feel like I was putting one over on people. I have to play the notes.

Lil Wayne is a person who I think is really deserving of the success he's had. I'm someone who can stay in the studio 24-7, and I've watched him stay in there just as long. He has a creativeness about him that I love.

It's part of my responsibility, as an actor who has been lucky enough to have this job, to take my job very seriously, show up on time, know my lines, and give the best performance that I can because I'm doing something that so many other people work very hard to have and never get.

I think for any director, male or female, it would be just to be prepared, work hard, and not give up! As my agent once told me, it's all about stamina before you ever end up on set!

The weird thing is that, with actors, filmmakers and directors, it doesn't really matter if it's Robert Downey Jr., who's one of the biggest stars in the world, when you start to work, he's a hardworking actor. At the end of the day, it doesn't matter who's a big star and who's an unknown actor from wherever. It's all about the work you do.

Hard work breeds self-respect.

I gotta think that one that becomes a philosophy of work, which is "no excuses."

It doesn't matter if it's a school play or a dumb TV show. It's your work. You should care about it so much that people get annoyed with you.

I'm not a perfectionist, but I like discipline. I'm obedient, but I'm not a perfectionist. I think it's important to work your hardest and be as kind as possible to everyone you work with. The goal, every day, is keeping focused on that.

Other writers, producers, and directors of low-budget films would often put down the film they were making, saying it was just something to make money with. I never felt that. If I took the assignment, I'd give it my best shot.

I was a hostess in a restaurant in New York when I was 21, and I was too good of an employee. I was putting most of my energy into that instead of acting. But my father told my sister and me to look at whatever needed to be done and do that job well, no matter what it was.

Where the material is, that's where you go. I'm a workman: I go to work. I've done movies for nothing, literally nothing; I did 'Last I Heard' for next to nothing.

I take pride in everything I do. I don't want to be handed anything. I want to earn it.

When you do what you're supposed to do and don't complain much, I think the fans, media, players and front office appreciate and respect that.

Whenever I'm doing any film, I'm always just happy to have a job and I always just put 110% of myself into it.

I'm human and I've played my butt off for ten years. I'm not a loafer, I'm not a jerk, I'm a baseball player.

I was never overexposed and work never became a chore. I was a very good girl wanting to do a good job.

It's about working when nobody's watching.