Nancy Juvonen Quotes

All of my misfortunes come from having thought too well of my fellows.

Disappointment is an endless wellspring of comedy inspiration.

Because comedy is cheap to put on: if you've got a play or an opera, there's a whole load of people and a set, but comedy is just one man or woman. And because TV has learned to love comics - there's so many more around now than when I started out.

We don't all have perfect lives, even if they are seemingly so.

Many a man may look respectable, and yet be able to hide at will behind a spiral staircase.

Everybody's wearing a disguise, to hide what they've got left behind their eyes.

Behind every glorious facade there is always hidden something ugly.

Masks are what they seem to be; not so the faces beneath them.

There are people who believe everything is sane and sensible that is done with a solemn face. ... It is no great art to say something briefly when, like Tacitus, one has something to say; when one has nothing to say, however, and none the less writes a whole book and makes truth ... into a liar - that I call an achievement.

Misanthropy ariseth from a man trusting another without having sufficient knowledge of his character, and, thinking him to be truthful, sincere, and honourable, finds a little afterwards that he is wicked, faithless, and then he meets with another of the same character. When a man experiences this often, and more particularly from those whom he considered his most dear and best friends, at last, having frequently made a slip, he hates the whole world, and thinks that there is nothing sound at all in any of them.

Confession: When I went to see The Empire Strikes Back I found myself glancing at my watch. The Force is with us, indeed, and a lot of it is hot air. It's a measure of my mixed feelings about The Empire Strikes Back that I'm not at all sure that I understand the plot. The Empire Strikes Back is about as personal as a Christmas card from a bank.

An optimist in Canada is someone who think things could be worse

There are many wise men that have secret hearts and transparent countenances.

Hollywood is called Hollywood, but holly doesn't grow there. Right from the start it's based on a lie. But it's a very seductive lie, and we're still entranced by it.

Nothing is dead: men feign themselves dead, and endure mock funerals and mournful obituaries, and there they stand looking out ofthe window, sound and well, in some new and strange disguise.

I wonder if anyone but me realizes what goes on in that head back of your deceptively sweet face.

By TV standards - I'm not comparing it to manual labor by any means - by TV comedy standards, it is the hardest job I will ever, ever have. There is nothing that could be harder. I mean, when you combine the amount of writing that has to be done - sharp writing - with the fact that you then take it to the street and improvise with both celebrities who have no idea what's going to happen and real people who are not actors or comedians who don't even know I'm about to talk to them... It's lightning in a bottle every time.

If you expect perfection from people your whole life is a series of disappointments, grumblings, and complaints.

As a rule, we go about with masks, we go about looking honest, and we are able to conceal ourselves all through the day.

It's a lot of work to put a brand-new monologue and a brand-new show on the air and find comedy every single day. It's challenging and it's the hardest thing I have ever done, but it's the best-suited thing for me. The more relaxed I get and the more confident I feel, the more I get to play and be myself...

I'm just going to keep doing comedy because I don't know what else to do. I have no other applicable skills.

Guys behave like they're naive, but they're not stupid. They know what's going on.

I know how difficult it can be when the image you've had of something doesn't match its reality; when the friend beside you turns into a monster.

It’s amazing what lies people can sustain behind the mask of their real faces.