Calvin Trillin Quotes

The whole purpose of annual reviews is to keep you abreast of whether or not you are fulfilling the requirements of tenure.

For a very long time, I wasn't thought of as anyone with any credibility in the film world. Everybody is tramping through the swamp every day in this business. 'I'm worth it, I'm credible - believe me, give me a shot!' That's the way I feel on a consistent basis.

I have been passed over on some things because people didn't think I was edgy enough. But the people who took those gigs are gone now, and I am still here.

I think in any industry, it is competitive. There are a certain number of slots out there and opportunities out there. So you need to make sure that you're always on the top of your toes, trying to get better.

I need work. I still audition for work. I don't get offered things out of nowhere. I have to work hard, still, and I get a lot of rejections. It just goes on and on.

You think when you start getting jobs that it'll get easier, but that's the biggest lie ever. It gets harder. You have to put in more work. I wish it were the casting couch days because it'd be a lot easier!

I have high expectations for the people who work for me. I figure that if they work really hard and do a good job on one of my campaigns or in my office, that experience will serve them well later on.

I want longevity in this career.

It's not just fleet of foot or speed. It's about who gets caught and gets knocked out.

I'm not in the Lifetime Achievement area yet-I'm still battling it out in the trenches.

Winning is important, but survival is even more important. If you don't survive, you don't get to fight the next battle.

Run when you can, walk if you have to, crawl if you must; just never give up.

Sometimes I think life is just a rodeo, the trick is to ride and make it to the bell.

Lonely's like any other organism; competitive and resourceful in the struggle to perpetuate itself.

No matter where you go, poor people have the capacity to endure. Some people even compliment us on it, as if endurance is all we can achieve.

Leadership development is a lifetime journey, not a quick trip.

What is the victory of a cat on a hot tin roof? - I wish I knew... Just staying on it, I guess, as long as she can.

Sooner or later even the fastest runners have to stand and fight.

In the future, those who are not coaches will not be promoted.

We fight to keep something alive rather than in the expectation that anything will triumph.

You build a successful career, regardless of your field of endeavor, by the dozens of little things you do on and off the job.

Winning means outlasting everyone else.

It isn't important to come out on top, what matters is to be the one who comes out alive.

Amazing how hope lives. Without air or water, with hardly anything at all to nurture it.

Hope means to keep living amid desperation and to keep humming in the darkness.