Martin Cruz Smith Quotes

I've always been interested in listening to people's stories.

You have to figure out who the right person is to tell the story. And often, people who are very self-aware will only sound as if they are pontificating if they tell the story.

I never took a photograph. Instead, I became a good listener.

Every person I see has a story to tell.

In apartments and cottages, on the street and in the train... I listen... More and more, I turn into one large ear, always turning to another person.

I've just found the stories of the people I'm talking to much more interesting than my reactions to them.

I wanted to be the conduit for somebody else's experiences, filtered through me, and passed on to other people. Which is the job description, really.

Storytelling is about listening in any media.

At the end of the day, stories connect us, not politics. And there's so many stories out there waiting to be told. It's just a matter of who's out there listening.

The thing about storytelling is it's very stripped down; it's very much at the core of 'I'm a person and I'm just telling you this thing, and I need you to trust me and believe that what I'm saying is true, and if you believe that what I'm saying is true then we are connected to each other.' I think there's something really beautiful about that.

I love meeting new people; I think everyone has a story to tell. We should all listen sometimes.

I think if you can get people to laugh, you can get people to listen.

You rehear your life by reading about what happens to other people.

It's populated by people who, by and large, have terrific communication skills. Every day is an extraordinary day. For me, it was just a great area for storytelling.

I hope that doing truthful portrayals of people in a variety of circumstances gives people a kind of subterranean link to those characters.

My job is to have empathy and curiosity for things that I've never done. Also, I'm a person whom people talk to.

I love sharing my stories and experiences with people and connecting to them on both a humorous and emotional level.

When you talk, you only talk about something that you already know. But when you listen, you can learn something you don’t know.

What is interesting to me about film, and documentary film in particular, is that I can write about these people, and you trust my judgment, more or less, but when you're confronted yourself with humans who are right there on the screen telling you their story, you make a judgment yourself that is conclusive.

Taking on different characters and seeing things through the eyes of different people is interesting to me. When I look at what people are going through in life, I try to understand their story.

I take time to be with people, and I learn a lot.

I like learning more about people; I like to talk to people.

You just have to tell your authentic stories, and hopefully, it resonates. Whatever your story is, you just have to tell it authentically.

Finding your soul begins by discovering our ability to listen! Alternatively, by sharing a smile, a laugh and just by being human to everyone - from friends, colleagues, family, and especially strangers, including those who are not from the same station in life as you.

I don't think I could write about something I've never experienced or felt; all my songs are about things I've been through.