Philip Seymour Hoffman Quotes

We often say that the biggest job we have is to teach a newly hired employee to fail intelligently... to experiment over and over again and to keep on trying and failing until he learns what will work.

You always want to try, in everything you do, to attempt something you've never tried before, and the only way to succeed at that is through failure, and the only way to succeed through failure is just banging your head against the wall over and over until you get to that interesting thing on the other side.

'Humans of New York' did not result from a flash on inspiration. It grew from five years of experimenting, tinkering, and messing up.

When a picture isn't realized, you pitch it in the fire and start another one!

One reason people who spend a lot of time thinking about and working on a problem or a craft seem to find breakthroughs more often than everyone else is that they've failed more often than everyone else.

I like the challenge of trying different things and wondering whether it's going to work or whether I'm going to fall flat on my face.

There's no learning without trying lots of ideas and failing lots of times.

It might be a huge hit, it might not; but you learn something doing it.

For me, I'd rather be the inventive one, and if something doesn't work, I'll go back to the workshop, put it on the bench, and pound on it for awhile.

If you're trying to invent something new, you're going to reach a lot of discouraging points, and most people give up.

The biggest job we have is to teach a newly hired employee how to fail intelligently. We have to train him to experiment over and over and to keep on trying and failing until he learns what will work.

Mistakes and dead-ends often mean more to these artists than any proven problem.

It is common sense to take a method and try it. If it fails, admit it frankly and try another. But above all, try something.

We shouldn't be afraid to fail- if we are not failing we are not pushing. 80% of the stuff in the studio is not going to work. If something is not good enough, stop doing it.

An inventor is simply a person who doesn't take his education too seriously. He tries and fails maybe a 1000 times. If he succeeds once, then he's in.

The slightest thing can ruin a scene, but you must be willing to take chances.

I don't really know what I'm doing, to be honest. I come up with things, and maybe it works, and maybe it doesn't, and I try to learn from my castmates and director and from everyone.

With innovation, there is always risk.

Failing is part of my process. A new bit never works the first time. I figure I have to bomb 7 times to make it good. So I tweak it.

Part of innovation is, fake it until you make it. Keep trying things, but it's not just the random trying.

I think the philosophy will continue to be what it always was; which was, let's keep throwing a bunch of things at the wall, and see what sticks.

For all of us it’s the things that won’t work that keep our interest.

None of my inventions came by accident. I see a worthwhile need to be met and I make trial after trial until it comes. What it boils down to is one per cent inspiration and ninety-nine per cent perspiration.

You try a lot of things and you don't know what the hell you're doing. If you're actually inventing something you shouldn't know what you're doing.

The more educated you get, the better shot you have to get it right, but if you're really trying something different, it's a challenge every time.