Callie Khouri Quotes

The biggest hurdle is rejection. Any business you start, be ready for it. The difference between successful people and unsuccessful people is the successful people do all the things the unsuccessful people don't want to do. When 10 doors are slammed in your face, go to door number 11 enthusiastically, with a smile on your face.

Don't be afraid to fail. You're going to go on a million auditions, and most of them you won't get. It's very easy to think, 'This is not going to work for me,' but keep at it. It's very generic advice, but you have to be willing to keep yourself in the game.

The starkest rejection letter might be followed by a million-dollar advance. Don't let rejection start to look the same as failure.

I never got picked for the athletics team for about three years. I was in my third year, and I really wanted to join, and I kept basically knocking on the door of the PE coach. 'Can I join? Can I join?' He's like, 'No... No.' And then one day, he's like, 'Okay, you want to race? Cool. We have a free spot for you. You're gonna be doing the 400.'

The best advice my dad ever gave me is, ‘No does not mean never. It just means not yet.’ So not every audition, you’re gonna get but as long as you know it wasn’t meant for you then you’ll get the next one.

Don't get discouraged from all the rejection.

Do not quit! Hundreds of times I have watched people throw in the towel at the one-yard line while someone else comes along and makes a fortune by just going that extra yard.

If I went by all the rejection I've had in my career, I should have given up a long time ago.

There is going to be a hundred thousand doors slammed in your face before one opens, so feel ok about taking rejection.

As a writer, you can't allow yourself the luxury of being discouraged and giving up when you are rejected, either by agents or publishers. You absolutely must plow forward.

You have to be determined, and be able to accept, 'No.' I've heard, 'No,' a thousand times, and I've heard, 'Yes,' a handful of times.

I still take losing out very seriously. But it inspires me that much more to move on. Quite often in my business, it's not the most talented people that succeed. Because they don't necessarily have the tenacity to deal with rejection.

I had my years of struggling. Some of my shows failed miserably, and I was upset by it, and it dented my confidence. But I never stopped. I kept going for it. And when I returned to New York from Los Angeles, I mean, it was make it or not - that was my last chance. And what a great chance it was, to make it in my own hometown.

You definitely get the answer 'no' more times in this business than you do 'yes.' It's what you do with those 'nos' that makes your success either great or not.

Personally, I've learned about perseverance: when you hear the word 'No,' and when you hear rejection, that it's not always final. And that timing is everything, and you have to stay the course and just keep working hard and know that, when your time comes, that it will be sweet and that it will be the perfect time.

As important as hustle is, grit and resilience are equally as important because there's a lot of rejection in our business.

What I always liked best about myself was my resilience, especially in this business with all the 'no's,' the doors closed in my face.

A lot of people have been rejected and they just give up. I have never had that mentality.

The early days were really difficult because it was constant no's, I didn't have an agent. I always knew that I had something to offer, but it just felt like I could never get someone to give me a chance.

You can make something out of every unfinished story and every rejection if you work at it.

Remember, you only have to succeed the last time.

The most successful people in the world are people who were rejected more than anybody else.

What's important is not the accolades and memories of success but the way you respond when opportunities are denied.

A long list. From getting cut from the high school basketball team, to getting fired from jobs, getting credit cards rejected and cut up. Rejection has only been a distraction, not a roadblock. “Every no gets me closer to a yes,” was the saying I used to use.