Ira Glass Quotes

The more I focused on my need to get better the worse I actually got - the more neurotic and self-conscious and self-absorbed I became.

The director calmed me down and told me I was being too hard on myself. He went on to say that I wasn't quite as bad as I thought, but needed to tone things down a bit.

We are becoming able to see the pursuit of external power for what it is and the futility of trying to escape the pain of powerlessness by changing the world. When we look inward, not outward, we can dismantle the parts of our personalities that have controlled us for so long - such as anger, jealousy, vindictiveness, superiority, inferiority.

I am very self-critical and always will be. I think this makes me want to improve, always. But just because I'm self-critical and say what I thought of my performance in a game, it doesn't mean I will bring myself down, ever.

To have to watch myself in a way that was constructively critical was really good for me because it made me a little bit more easy on myself because I wasn't allowed to walk away screaming.

I just have to be myself. I'm not perfect, and I'm going to make mistakes; I might say the wrong thing. I have to be responsible to my community, and I feel like I am, but then I have to not be so hard on myself.

I don't really think in terms of obstacles. My biggest obstacle is always myself.

I wonder, 'Why did I do that line that way?' And I also constantly think I'm fat and hate my teeth. But I've gotten better over the years. I've started to accept.

Self-esteem, the kind that comes from finding the sweet spot between a healthy fondness for yourself and healthy self-skepticism, tends to get harder to come by the older we get.

Neither blame or praise yourself.

I never really got on my own case about my own acting. I know a lot of other people have, and probably very justifiably. But I don't worry about stuff like that too much.

I don't like reading good things about myself. With the criticism and the negative things, I always think that makes me better.

When someone praises me, I get wary. If someone has something negative to say, I invite them over for a long chat. They are important for my growth as an actor.

I uplift people and see the good in a bad situation. The worst is I'm very critical of myself. If I do a performance, I watch it 100 times afterwards and pick it apart.

If you read something bad about yourself and it stings you, I've learned that somewhere that's a judgment I'm holding about myself, so I'll try to work through that.

I ain't no perfect man I'm tryna do the best that I can with what it is I have.

I don't want to be better than you or her or him - I want to be better than I am right now

Have patience with all things, but chiefly have patience with yourself. Do not lose courage in considering your own imperfections but instantly set about remedying them -- every day begin the task anew.

I don't care about people kissing my ass or telling me how great I am. I don't really give a damn. I read the bad stuff a whole lot more than I read the good stuff. I read that because there are always going to be critics who are going to say how good you aren't.

I'm pretty hard on myself. Every now and again I'll go on my IMDB or update my resume and I'm like, "man, I've done a lot of work."

Unless I accept my faults, I will most certainly doubt my virtues.

You must learn to overcome your very natural and appropriate revulsion for your own work.

I'm my own worst critic, so I try and not focus on what I've done wrong, or what I could improve on.

The real difficulty is to overcome how you think about yourself.

By the time you're thirty, your worst enemy is yourself.