Mel Giedroyc Quotes

It's the people who try to be clever who never are; the people who are clever never think of trying to be.

I don't pretend to be anything but an actor and a writer.

The musicians that didn't know music could play the best blues. I know that I don't want no musicians who know all about music playin' for me.

People used to think we just faked all that stuff... it was all written, rehearsed. The fact that it looks as cobbled together as it does is just that we weren't very good.

I'm not slick. I'm not polished. I think my strength is in reacting.

I'm just not that fascinating a person to have had all those lives that I've written about.

I'm not Laverne Cox. I'm not Janet Mock... I'm just a girl from New Jersey who has experience and lived.

A lot of comedians want people to listen to them. I don't think we've ever been that bothered about whether people would want to listen to us.

I have been successful probably because I have always realized that I knew nothing about writing and have merely tried to tell an interesting story entertainingly.

Amid a world of noisy, shallow actors it is noble to stand aside and say, 'I will simply be.

I'm not Martin Luther King. I can't be Martin Luther King. The only thing I can do is present what I feel the essence of Martin Luther King is.

There have been many people for whom limitations, failure, loss, or pain in whatever form turned out to be their greatest teacher. It taught them to let go of false self-images and superficial ego-dictated goals and desires. It gave them depth, humility and compassion. It made them more real.

I used to say, "Go boldly in among the English," and then I used to go boldly in myself.

I'd rather be around broken people who have a degree of humility, and just get on with their work.

Don't be afraid to say what you don't know, and speak for what you do know. Say, "I can't speak for all Latinas, but I can speak for me and tell you very, very honestly."

Avoid pulpits, platforms, stages and pedestals. Keep to the hard ground. It is the only way you can judge your approximate status as a man.

I'm not a movie star and I know that.

I'm very bright, but I'm terrified of sounding like someone who thinks he's very bright-because those people are assholes.

I am a very simple person. In spite of all that has happened to me, I have tried to remain the simple person I started out.

I wish I could say confidently that pacing remains my weak point, if you could talk about your own stuff without sounding like you're self-obsessed. But I think you kind of have to be.

You haven't changed. You may say: 'I'm full of love, I'm full of truth, I'm full of knowledge, I'm full of wisdom.' I say: 'That's all nonsense. Do you behave? Are you free of fear? Are you free of ambition, greed, envy and the desire to achieve success in every field? If not, you are just playing a game. You are not serious.'

I've never presented myself as anything less than a flawed person.

Finally I am coming to the conclusion that my highest ambition is to be what I already I am.

Humility does not mean believing oneself to be inferior, but to be freed from self-importance. It is a state of natural simplicity which is in harmony with our true nature and allows us to taste the freshness of the present moment.

Thelonius Monk went over to Bird and Bud Powell and said, 'I told you guys to act crazy, but I didn't tell you to fall in love with the act. You're really crazy now.'