Neal Stephenson Quotes

I've already put my parents through the wringer with a number of my jobs!

I've got a lot of examples about moments where I thought something would work on film and it didn't work, but I never came to that decision with the film half shot, where I was stuck on a runaway train and couldn't jump off. On those occasions where I have admitted defeat, that this is not going to work, I haven't embarked on that project and made that movie.

My parents are very proud of my success but still worry, as I'm in a profession where there is no guarantee of work. They have always supported my decision to go into acting, but there have been tough times work-wise.

'SNL' is the first real job I've held for more than a month and a half.

I need something to fall back on if fame doesn't work. I'll have to become an economist or something.

Hopefully, as I get older in the business, I make my choices more accurately, and I perhaps know from either the script or the first meeting that it isn't going to work.

Actors are an insecure breed. It's hard to have your career depend upon other people's opinions of what you do.

I've been a financial journalist for 30 years.

I admit, I'm suspicious of any career planning that involves chasing the next 'big thing,' just because it's so hard to predict what the next big thing is going to be a couple of years - or even six months - out.

My career is just kind of crazy.

I'm in an area where I want to make music that I'm thrilled with, but, you know, I do have to worry about putting food on the table. I'm in that position where I cannot always be gauging what things might become. I have to look ahead, because I'm cautious.

I'm very much a jobbing actor who's still trying to find a place to rent down the road.

My career has been very good to me, but really, the odds are really slim. It's a tough life, and you deal with a lot of rejection and unemployment, and if you're lucky to have a career, it's not easy. So you just want to protect your kids from the pain of rejection.

When I was in art school, I worried that being a painter seemed like it could be an elusive dream, and fashion seemed so much more secure.

There's no way that anyone can know the ebb and flow of one's career. You can't know that. You can tell young actors it's going to be very difficult, but there's no way you can understand the difficulties and the rewards through description. You have to cellularly experience it.

I think it was very important for me to look at starting to build a safety net so that I didn't feel the insecurity of the ups and downs of finances because I might do no film a year, or I might do six commercials, or I might do none.

I was pushing for a career in poetry and of course the received wisdom was that you would never make a living at it.

That's why you went to school, because you realize that, being a professional athlete, there's a good chance you're not going to make it. You need an education, that's why for me, it was such an important decision to go to college and further my education to provide me a safety net in case this didn't work out.

I couldn't make a living as a comic in Ireland and I was watching my friends from college getting good jobs, buying houses, and I had to really take stock and say: am I going to go for this comedy thing, or what?

When my father saw that I was interested in following such a career he had many reservations. His feeling was that there was no chance to earn a livelihood unless I played jazz or something similar.

The reality of a long-term career is that there are ups and downs.

I went from having three little jobs that I strung together to being on the road full-time; having some savings that my managers told me to spend. You fly all over the country opening for these other people. You pay a publicist to get some press while you're establishing yourself and you will be solvent in this career forevermore.

I'm almost 40, so it's an awkward time in my career. You kind of hope it comes through and, if not, I'll be a waiter. Awesome.

Honestly, I could get in a car accident today and never play tennis again, and then I wouldn't have anything to fall back on. But fortunately enough, I do.

I didn't worry about my career ending, but there were days where I felt pretty beat up by it all and just pretty tired, because they didn't make it easy for me. And coming right off the last lawsuit, it was the last thing I wanted to get involved in. When it was over, we didn't really celebrate, we were just exhausted. I lost all interest in the record business and never wanted to do anything except hand in a record again.