Kazuo Ishiguro Quotes

When you start believing you're something special, then you're not going to be striving to move forward.

If you aren't in over your head, how do you know how tall you are?

An arrogant person considers himself perfect. This is the chief harm of arrogance. It interferes with a person's main task in life - becoming a better person.

The day you think you have reached your fullest potential is the day that you havn't.

The minute you feel you have given a faultless performance is the time to get out.

Do not try to be humble: learn humility.

I don't see myself as the perfect person at all.

Brooklyn for twenty years, I've learned that there is always someone better than you at what you do.

The only way to get under me is to get over yourself.

If I was sharp in every area, I might be too big-headed or something.

I'd like to think I haven't done my best yet.

When people call me God, I say, no, I'm still an angel or saint of acting. I still have a long way to go.

A little humility never hurts.

I used to suffer from excessive pride. Well, I got over that one.

Success can make you go one of two ways. It can make you a prima donna - or it can smooth the edges, take away the insecurities, let the nice things come out.

Happiness comes only when we push our brains and hearts to the farthest reaches of which we are capable.

I have a big ego, and I'm a confident person, but when it comes down to being a jerk, that doesn't work for me, I tried it... for about ten years.

I think I learned most from editing, both editing myself and having someone else edit me. It's not always easy to have someone criticize your work, your baby. But if you can swallow your ego, you can really learn from the editing.

Pride is a thing that I have tried to abandon completely. Try as I might, pride still creeps into many of the things I do.

I certainly had an arrogant streak. And I certainly was defensive in certain cases. Maybe I'm still arrogant, but I try not to be.

Am I perfect? No. Do I want to be perfect? No, because if I were perfect, I would be a reporter.

The biggest obstacle that stalls leaders' growth is the human ego. When leaders start to think they know it all, they stop growing.

People should just get over themselves.

My story was that I was egotistical, arrogant, and an absolute jerk to everyone who brags about everything - and I will - but I've been very fortunate to take everything and learn from it.

I'm a regular guy, and I don't want anyone to look at me as being superior or having a God complex or anything like that, you know? I don't want to walk around like I know everything, because I have so much more room to improve.