Willem Dafoe Quotes

You do the best you can with what's thrown at you, then you try again.

If I had written something, and I had written myself into a corner, I didn't abandon it. Because I remembered: There's always more.

My idea of artistry has always been 'try everything until you find out what works.'

I'm learning along the way, and there's going to be some little bumps and bruises, but as long as I keep rolling with the punches, I will keep moving up.

You know you can usually solve almost any problem, or you'll realize you can't, but usually you can solve almost any problem through some sort of trickery one way or another and get the shot to work, but you know when to give up.

Doing a scene is like opening a bottle. If it doesn't open one way, try another - perhaps even give it up for another bottle?

Reason, alas, does not remove mountains. It only tries to walk around them, and see what is on the other side.

I always come back around. I make it work.

The summit charms us, the steps to it do not; with the heights before our eyes, we like to linger in the plain. It is only a part of art that can be taught; but the artist needs the whole. He who is only half instructed speaks much and is always wrong; who knows it wholly is content with acting and speaks seldom or late.

I haven't gotten stuck with something because I just keep going, and I keep doing different things.

Don't be afraid to stumble. Any inventor will tell you that you don't follow a plan far before you strike a snag. If, out of 100 ideas you get one that works, it's enough.

When the going gets tough, the tough reinvent.

There's a key for every door, and if you can't find it, you can make one. That's always an option.

When your way doesn't work, don't be disheartened. You must be willing to try another way. A closed door doesn't mean you have been cut off permanently. It is a challenge, an obstacle, a tool to be used.

If you don't compromise your gift, if you write each day as well as you can, and then submit your work and not worry about it and go on to the next piece, you suddenly find oddly enough that you're no more interested in the applause than the silence. You don't hear either one of them. You can never listen to the naysayers. If you do you won't survive.

There are no dead ends, just detours.

The thing that got me over the hump was accepting that I had to do whatever I could to stay in the game.

Take a method and try it. If it fails, admit it frankly, and try another. But by all means, try something.

Of course, every artist has 'minor works' that they do, but I don't think I have any 'minor disciplines.' Each discipline I approach as a major undertaking that I put my whole self into.

Sometimes if you want to achieve something great, there will be curveballs. You just have to dodge them every once in a while.

If I didn't love it, I would not record it.

Maybe I'm just purely lucky. If I've come up against obstacles I've always found another way around it.

Stay committed to your decisions, but stay flexible in your approach.

I have sworn to die painting.

If you can't get your songs to people one way, you have to find another.