John Baldessari Quotes

In 10 years, I don't really know what I'll be, and I like not having any idea. I like the idea of being so passionate about everything I do and the fact that I might wake up tomorrow and say 'I want to be a chef,' and just pour myself into that.

In every kid's life, there's about three or four years when you're at liberty, and after that, you have to get a job because you're getting married or you have to support your parents or whatever it is. I was lucky: I didn't get married, so I didn't have to have that responsibility.

When you're young, you don't think about your career or your future - you perform because you love it.

You can be 24 and continue to live like you're at college, or even continue to live like you're in high school. Or you can put on a shirt and tie and pretend to be an adult.

Even though you're growing up, you should never stop having fun.

It strikes me every time I do an interview that I don't really sit around thinking about my goals and my life and my career. I do what I love doing and I get a lot of feedback. I'm free as a bird, you know? If I do something good, it's, 'Wow, that was brilliant,' and if I do something bad, it just goes away.

When you're in high school, you can't even imagine the concept of what the rest of your life even means.

I got alright GCSEs, but I was lost. I didn't know what to do, whether to continue with education, go to uni, go to art school - then again, I was like, 'Maybe I should just go and get a job, start early and make money.'

Growing up, you tended to just go through school to get out, then figure out what you want to do in this big ball of mud.

To find out what one is fitted to do, and to secure an opportunity to do it, is the key to happiness

Everyone out there is growing up too quickly, university does give you responsibility but you're still learning and you have time to go out and have fun.

I moved back home after graduating from Virginia Tech. And that's when reality hit. I knew I had to do something. I guess it doesn't click when you're that young. I was 19 and had finished college. I got home and had to figure out what I was going to do.

Acting was definitely a comfortable place. It didn't force me into adulthood because I was ready to be independent.

When the time is right I have a laugh and a joke with my friends on a day off, but I have had to make sacrifices, and in that sense it's been a huge step forward, completely different to how it was before. I was 18 when the manager spoke to me. I realised I'm not like any other teenager. I can't be doing stuff any other 18 or 19-year-old was doing.

College is a magic time. Yes, you're young and fickle, but you want to be part of this college experience... Then you graduate from that. You have your first job, moving to a new city.

Music is what I must do, business is what I need to do and politics is what I have to do.

If you're not having fun - I don't care what you're doing - don't do it. Move on. Find something else, life's too short.

Never get married in college; it's hard to get a start if a prospective employer finds you've already made one mistake.

It took me a long time to find out that I was born to be an actor. It was the last thing on my list, although my list was very small. I didn't know what to do. But kids weren't supposed to know what to do back then; we were all cute and we'd find out what we'd do later in life.

I'm living as an artist, and that's a staggering feeling, it's a total luxury. And because you have this amazing chance, with so much freedom, I'm determined to make something that is worth that. I feel this responsibility - to create something that makes an audience feel, which takes them somewhere. But that's very hard to achieve.

One thing young people have to always keep in mind when deciding what they want to do with their lives is, is it fun? Is it something that I'm interested in? Is it something I enjoy?

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

I don't really look for specific types of projects any more. I'm not taking care of a career anymore. I'm just having fun acting.

It was easy for me to leave acting for school, because I wasn't really in it as an adolescent for fulfilling reasons.

I loved my boarding school, but I didn't know what I wanted to do. I didn't have a career.