Lily Tomlin Quotes

I was writing this really long joke about the smell of poop, and I was like, 'What am I doing with my life?' I started to think about why I was a comedian, and then I came up with a reason for existence, which is: inserting absurdity or stupidity into strangers' lives in order to make the world a better place.

Although humor is present in every one of my films, it has always been used as a way to make the darker, heavier stuff in my stories more palatable. I never set out to make 'Humpday' a comedy.

The sense of humor has other things to do than to make itself conspicuous in the act of laughter.

Before you get to 'SNL,' you have your own sensibility. And when you get to 'SNL,' it's the show's sensibility.

If you don't like the people, you're just doing a sketch. Which, in most cases, is comedy minus some emotional backbone.

I was put on earth to make people laugh.

I like some of my stuff not to be particularly funny. It's supposed to be amusing, entertaining or thought-provoking, like a curiosity. If you put it on in front of 500 people in the Odeon they wouldn't laugh. They shouldn't laugh.

Peter Keating: "Do you always have to have a purpose? Do you always have to be so damn serious? Can't you ever do things without reason, just like everybody else? You're so serious, so old. Everything's important with you. Everything's great, significant in some way, every minute, even when you keep still. Can't you ever be comfortable-and unimportant?": Howard Roark: "No."

I like books that are funny, but that aren't trying to be funny. I like situational humor.

I love straight-face comedy or relatively subtle comedy. And then I turn around and I find myself doing very broad comedy but it's all fun and you have to keep your sense of humor and not take yourself seriously.

Education should be the process of helping everyone to discover his uniqueness, to teach him how to develop that uniqueness, and then to show him how to share it because that’s the only reason for having anything.

Born and nurtured when the human being first asked questions about the reason for things and their purpose, philosophy shows in different modes and forms that the desire for truth is part of human nature itself.

Know that you were made [the way you are] for a reason.

Comedy doesn't have to be loud and obnoxious and beat you over the head. It can be this really small detail that, when it computes in your brain, you think, "That's great. That's masterful."

Everyone has to have either this or that problem, if he can't find any problem, he loses all reason for living.

A true inner world is often revealed by style and sensibility as much as by what appears to be confession.

Be in control. Know who you are. And don't try to be different just to be different.

Each person shows something different, in every challenge that they come across.

Don't be concerned with other people's impressions of you. They are dazzled and deluded by appearances. Stick with your purpose. This alone will strengthen your will and give your life coherence.

When I mention somebody, that doesn't necessarily mean that I identify with him, personally or poetically. I'm extremely happy when I encounter poets who are different than I am. The ones who have their own distinct poetics provide me with the greatest experiences.

Do what you love and try not to look at what other people occupy themselves with. Most people seem restless and bounce around too much to focus or even pay attention enough to themselves to figure out exactly what they really do love, as opposed to what the people that surround them are doing.

Everyone is given one gift, a reason for being, and it's our obligation to do something with it.

In my stand-up, I've always been loose. If there's a curtain onstage, I'll use that in my act. If there's a door, I'll use the door. I always like to use everything at my disposal, which makes each show a little different and a little more fun.

What makes you different, makes you dangerous.

You have to be yourself, as models come in all sorts of shapes and sizes. There are girls out there who are more voluptuous and they work better for different sorts of stories.