James Mercer Quotes

My mother started out by being a very good girl. She did everything that was expected of her, and it cost her dearly. Late in her life, she was furious that she had not followed her own heart; she thought that it had ruined her life, and I think she was right.

I don't think I would have made for a good doctor. It was not meant to be, and it took me a long time to realize that.

I don't think one should ever come to my stage of life and have to look back and say, Gosh. I wish I hadn't spent all those years doing that job I was never really interested in.

Definitely working on 'Deal or No Deal' was a learning experience, and it helped me to understand what I would rather be doing.

Too often, I have not been what I wanted to be; I've succumbed to pressures. Yes, I have. The things I've done that I liked, I've always done against advice.

In a weird way, when I was looking back, I didn't know I was going to be a director until I was.

My family pleaded with me to forget literature and do something sensible, such as find some sort of useful work.

You don't have that much choice in your life, which is one of the big lessons I've learned. I was going to be a designer whether I wanted to be a designer or not.

I wasn't meant to be an attorney, but I was meant to go to law school.

I never had the chance to consider what or how I wanted to be.

I know from experience that careers do not always arise from a deep sense of destiny.

If you're suddenly doing something you don't want to do for four years, just so you've got something to fall back on, by the time you come out you don't have that 16-year-old drive any more and you'll spend your life doing something you never wanted to do in the first place.

I think my life is a movie and your life reflects your work.

The one mistake I will always kick myself for is not doing 'Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?' It was written for me.

I never wanted to become a CA. My father was keen that I become one because he thought that was the right thing for me to do. I didn't have the courage to tell him that I don't want to do it. But now, I can't thank him more for having put me through it.

I guess a younger me would like that I tried acting? Although I swore that I'd actually go to L.A. and try to make it in movies and I didn't do that. I did try, though. And I found that I didn't like it.

Lot of people know very early what they want, but I didn't know I wanted acting.

My dream job was to work in an ice cream shop. Two weeks and five pounds later, I realized it wasn't for me. For many years, I had planned to be a corporate lawyer. As luck would have it, other than a summer internship, I didn't end up doing that either.

I'm not sure what I want to do when I grow up, or if I'm sure I ever want to grow up. I'm sure there are people that wish I would, but you know, my mom will get over it.

Don't lie - when you are 105 years of age - on your deathbed, thinking, 'I should have done a few things!' I would like to think I tried as much as I could.

When I was in the eighth grade, I wrote this huge long paper about how I had no idea what I was gonna do with my life, but that I wanted to make a difference and touch even if it was like one person's life... inspire them.

I don't want to make the same mistakes of being swept along with things, taking on jobs that I'm not passionate about, that I don't really believe in but that everyone says I should do.

You don't reach points in life at which everything is sorted out for us. I believe in endings that should suggest our stories always continue.

Do not try to live your children's lives out of your own frustrations.

At a certain age it just became apparent to me that this was probably the work that I would have to do.