Norton Juster Quotes

The right to err, which means the freedom to try experiments, is the universal condition of all progress.

Good storytelling for me is not so much technical expertise, which I know is applauded often; it's actually freshness of approach. It does mean you sometimes stumble and fall and make a horrible mess of things in seeking that freshness, but you should always keep trying to do that.

I don't mean I'd mind being rich and famous. That's very much on my schedule and someday I'll try to get around to it.

The thing is, in America, it just seemed ridiculous - I mean, the idea of having a hit record over there, ... It was just something you could never do.

But why, some say, the moon? Why choose this as our goal? And they may well ask; why climb the highest mountain? Why, 35 years ago, fly the Atlantic? Why does Rice play Texas?

When I hear Sam Cooke's 'A Change Is Gonna Come', it frustrates me because no matter how hard I try, I can never be that good.

Calculate what man knows and it cannot compare to what he doesn't know. Calculate the time he is alive and it cannot compare to the time before he was born. Yet man takes something so small and tries to exhaust the dimensions of something so large!

But just because you can never reach it, doesn’t mean that it’s not worth looking for.

Nothing - I mean nothing - and no-one - I mean no-one - will stop me going through to the end, and trying to be ready for the challenge of 2007.

I think I'm a better actor now. I mean, I really think I know a lot about acting now. But I didn't know a lot about acting then, in 80's, and I never knew how to be myself. I never knew how to relax and just play it from me. I was always trying to deliver a line.

I don't work so hard at trying to get every song to be three-dimensional and mean so much. I just want to breathe, right now, with the music.

I've always been attracted to the characters that I didn't know anything about. If you do anything in life with passion and love, then it's worth trying.

Perfectionism means that you try not to leave so much mess to clean up. But clutter and mess show us that life is being lived.

I think Mount Everest is gorgeous, too, but that doesn’t mean I have any intention of trying to climb it

I'm trying to find things that are extremely challenging or mean something to me deeply.

I mean, how would anyone learn anything if they weren't curious? How would scientists make discoveries? -- We all have the right to be different, don't we?

To me, performing means trying to do the most you can with the partner in front of you, with the story you're telling. There are actors who have carried me, who have brought me elsewhere or with them.

Lots of things are mysteries. But that doesn't mean there isn't an answer to them. It's just that scientists haven't found the answer yet.

I've been trying to fit everything in, trying to get to the end before it's too late, but I see now how badly I've deceived myself. Words do not allow such things. The closer you come to the end, the more there is to say. The end is only imaginary, a destination you invent to keep yourself going, but a point comes when you realize you will never get there. You might have to stop, but that is only because you have run out of time. You stop, but that does not mean you have come to an end.

You try to make the world a better place and what does it get you? I mean, Christ, how the hell does one man stand a chance against four billion assholes?

To atone, I teach and try to set an example... I love spreading this stuff around. Just because it's trite doesn't mean it isn't right. In fact, I like to say, 'If it's trite, it's right.'

I just try to just roll with the punches. I mean, once the team pretty much starts closing out, just try to get in attack mode, and at the same time, try to find my teammates. It's kind of hard, hitting the shots I was hitting, to try and pass the ball, but you've got to figure out a way.

I'm just trying to matter and live a good life and make work that means something to somebody.

I write to find out what the story means to me, that is what I try to do especially with the first draft.

I'm not sure what I'm trying to say, it could be that I've lost my way.