Steve Martin Quotes

I think it's sad to me that I had to make a decision to not play the game that I feel like I'm best at and that I love. But if it was just about the game itself, I'd be there in a heartbeat. But that's not how the real world works.

I was about to get a degree in economics when I accepted that I'd be a lousy businessman, and if I didn't give acting a try I'd regret it for the rest of my life.

When I'm asked how to succeed in show business, I always say I haven't the foggiest.

I knew if I had gone to school - if I had gone to Juilliard and danced for four years - I would have spent every day wondering what would have happened if I had gone to Los Angeles instead.

I've never gone to acting school and I never will, so I'm learning about the business from the people who are in the business. It doesn't seem like I work at all. And the unknown is always exciting.

I would hate to be 65 and think, 'What if I had tried to be an actor?'

I can't remember a time when I didn't want to be in show business!

I'd always wanted to be on Broadway one day, but it seemed like a dream that might be unattainable. This business has a lot of ups and downs and I learned that pretty quickly.

We were bemused, I guess, when we got the call from Hollywood. We didn't know anything about the entertainment industry or even what a casting agency was. But I thought, 'What do I have to lose?' It's not every day a great opportunity presents itself.

I think early on I knew what I was going to do and it was based a lot on familiarity but it was also because I didn't have a lot of skills. There was nothing I wanted t be. I didn't want to be a doctor. I wanted to be in show business.

I've always wanted to be a singer and an actor. I will continue to concentrate on both because I love both.

When I was very young I knew that I wanted to be in show business. I knew that I wanted to be an entertainer.

Even though I played national level badminton, I told my parents when I was in 10th that I was not interested in continuing. Being a model or actor fascinated me from a young age, and I even did a couple of ads when I was just eight years old.

I'm 23, so I'm not done with my life. But acting, definitely, out of what I've done so far, makes me feel the most alive and is very invigorating and thrilling. So I figured I might as well try it for a while.

I grew up in the business since I was three years old so I've always kind of been in front of the camera and grew up in commercials and I knew that I wanted to do it no matter what, I just loved it.

I had grand visions of being in professional sports. But when reality set in, I went, 'Oh, OK. I'll just move to Hollywood and be an actor.' I didn't want to look back on my life and wonder, 'What if I had done this? Or I had done that?'

If you don't take the chance to live life, what can you say at the end of it?

You and I and everybody in show business and the entertainment industry fly by the seat of our pants. We don't know quite what is going to happen.

In life, do you ever really know if you're missing an opportunity? No, you really don't.

Well, you know, in this crazy world of entertainment, I would say if you have a dream, you have to pursue it.

Show business is - you're there by somebody's fluke. And as long as somebody likes you, and the show is going well, you're fine. I'd do anything. There's so much I want to do.

I knew what show business was, which was why I didn't want in on that action. I saw what happens! You get it, and then you lose it.

I grew up in a house where my father went on auditions, and he got some and he lost some, and there were good years and lean years. I didn't expect anything from the business, and that's often a danger in Hollywood, the notion that if you're pretty and have white teeth and just show up for the game then you'll win.

I struggled to keep one foot in music and one in academia. I had worked on my Ph.D. for three years full time before I realized Bad Religion could be a legitimate career.

That's why I made a comeback in 1988. I knew there were chances of not making it, but I didn't want to end up at sixty years old and say I should have tried when I was thirty-eight.