Charlie Kaufman Quotes

The world is so huge that people are always getting lost in it. There are too many ideas and things and people too many directions to go. I was starting to believe that the reason it matters to care passionately about something is that it whittles the world down to a more manageable size. It makes the world seem not huge and empty but full of possibility.

It's a matter of reducing the work to its very simplest possible state, eliminating all of the things that lead away from the guts of the work, the thing the work is really about. Anything that's there must build towards its over-all organization and meaning.

A simple life is not seeing how little we can get by with-that's poverty-but how efficiently we can put first things first. . . . When you're clear about your purpose and your priorities, you can painlessly discard whatever does not support these, whether it's clutter in your cabinets or commitments on your calendar. (148)

There is but one art, to omit! Oh, if I knew how to omit I would ask no other knowledge. A man who knows how to omit would make an Iliad of a daily paper.

... and you can only have 2 or 3 things everyday, because everything else will just come at you; you know fires in a day.

Without something I'm really excited about... I'd be really lost.

When you try to communicate too many ideas, sometimes you wind up communicating nothing.

Through your life, most people peel away the junk that's not useful, that's superfluous. You are determined to peel that away. I do one thing at a time. One man at a time. One car. One house. One child. One job.

I have learned to pare down what I do and still be effective and strong in a role.

I really feel that we need to scale back and get to what is important on so many levels.

I only have room to do things that I have a love for in my life.

I sometimes think less is more. If you cut yourself in too many places, it is hard to execute.

Most people in business and within their personal lives move towards complexity. More To Dos. More projects. More products. More meetings. More possessions. More goals. The best - I suggest to you - move in the opposite direction.

The beautiful thing about such moments in life is that there is so much clarity. You know what you live for and what matters.

I believe that all wisdom consists in caring immensely for a few right things, and not caring a straw about the rest.

You must have a reason to be in the places to which you go, and you must do only things that you really care about.

There is great power in focusing on what you want..... The person who tries to do everything accomplishes nothing. Most people try to be all things to everyone. And so they end up being nothing to anyone. Confucius nailed the point: "Person who chases two rabbits catches neither."

When you know what's most important to you, making a decision is quite simple.

A lucky person gets up in the morning, puts both feet on the floor, knows what they're about to do and thinks it still matters.

The secret of success is concentration ... Taste everything a little, look at everything a little; but live for one thing.

People who don’t know how to summarize have no dignity. Neither do people who needlessly drag on their messy lives. They who don’t know the beauty of simplification, of pruning away the unnecessary, die without ever comprehending the true meaning of life.

To know what to leave out and what to put in; just where and just how, ah, that is to have been educated in knowledge of simplicity.

Believe it or not, it is not only possible to accomplish more by doing less, it is mandatory. Enter the world of elimination.

Yes, but people have got to believe that, or what's the point MY POINT EXACTLY.

The wisdom of life consists in the elimination of non-essentials.