Tony Kushner Quotes

I've experienced tons of failure. I've been making music for 30 years, and I'd say failure and success have happened in equal measure.

Most people would have given up when faced with all the criticism I've received over the years.

People like to tear you down. People are always going to take shots. You've just got to go for it.

Failure has been my best friend as a writer. It tests you, to see if you have what it takes to see it through.

I was a writer. I just wasn't a very good one. I was lucky enough to have a playwriting teacher who told me that I'd be a better actor than I would a playwright.

Any time you're working on big things, you're going to get criticized along the way.

The dramas that I worked on were successful, but not the movies. I still have many opportunities, and I will not be discouraged.

I was told by thousands of people I would never make it.

...the vital point to remember is that the swine who just sent your pearl of a story back with nothing but a coffee-stain and a printed rejection slip can be wrong. You cannot take it for granted that he is wrong, but you have an all-important margin of hope that might be enough to keep you going.

I am unwilling to accord to some small−minded and jealous individuals the satisfaction of having thwarted my efforts. These men are to me nothing more than microbes of a nasty disease. My project was retarded by laws of nature. The world was not prepared for it. It was too far ahead of time, but the same laws will prevail in the end and make it a triumphal success.

Behind every great idea is someone saying "It won't work"

You do it a day at a time. You just put your rejection slips in a shoebox and tell yourself one day you're going to autograph them and sell them at auction.

There are two wrong reactions to a rejection slip: deciding it's a final judgment on your story and/or talent, and deciding it's no judgment on your story and/or talent.

Engrave this in your brain: EVERY WRITER GETS REJECTED. You will be no different.

To all the teachers that told me I'd never amount to nothing.

A friend told me 'I guess you gotta go through a lot of nightmares, before you finally, you know, accomplish your dreams.

It is wrong to be harsh with the New York critics, unless one admits in the same breath that it is a condition of their existence that they should write entertainingly about something which is rarely worth writing about at all.

I'm very proud of my flops, as much as of my successes.

I have a really good relationship with my label and with people I've worked with since I was younger. I've always had a really good relationship, with both men and women. I think, for me, the way I face sexism in the music industry is when people are like, "Oh, she must not write her own music." That's frustrating, in a way. But it's cool. I'm mostly just like, "Meh." I'm just doing my thing.

Everybody has barriers and obstacles. If you look at them as containing fences that don't allow you to advance, then you're going to be a failure. If you look at them as hurdles that strengthen you each time you go over one, then you're going to be a success.

She thinks, I failed twice. If I failed twice I'm going to fail forever. No! That is not the law of life. If you failed twice that means you can learn. It's just a learning experience. It's an obstacle. An imaginary obstacle. She made it real. She made failing a journey of life... Instead do again and make a journey of your life.

I made 5,127 prototypes of my vaccum before I got it right. There were 5,126 failures. But I learned from each one. That’s how I came up with a solution. So I don’t mind failure.

When strict with oneself, one rarely fails.

You can not be successful without confronting rejection.