Focus on Craft Quotes

At the end of the day, I'm an actor. I'm not here to sell other stuff or use off-screen things to generate whether or not I work. If I'm any good, I'll work; if I'm not, I won't.

Whatever art form you're working in, it's crucial to see it clearly, to feel it clearly, and not to worry about the results, or how someone else will see it.

You don’t ask a writer what typewriter he uses.

If you don't compromise your gift, if you write each day as well as you can, and then submit your work and not worry about it and go on to the next piece, you suddenly find oddly enough that you're no more interested in the applause than the silence. You don't hear either one of them. You can never listen to the naysayers. If you do you won't survive.

I couldn't care less about actors' trailers and food on sets and stuff like that - I just want to act.

I don't like the outside world to intrude when I'm making a film. I like to either see my family or work, but I don't like to go out.

Advice from this elderly practitioner is to forget publishers and just roll a sheet of copy paper into your machine and get lost in your subject.

My only goal is to stay focused on my craft and make sure my life is as sharp as it can be to attack any character that is given to me.

That's very nice if they want to publish you, but don't pay too much attention to it. It will toss you away. Just continue to write.

Once you stop thinking about the minutiae of what each part might mean for your career, you learn that if you do a good performance, it's going to be good for you. The work is what matters.

The reality is, the only thing I can control is whether my songs are good and if I can turn up and sing. All the rest is background noise.

So many writers live their whole lives in rooms. You can be too civilised in the environment you have around you, too oriented towards speaking engagements and literary festivals and dinner parties. That has no interest for me these days. You get to a point where you don't care anymore. At that point, you can start to write.

A lot of people come to quote-unquote Hollywood thinking that all they just have to be different or do something outlandish or have a huge personality to become a star. But I think that if you just focus on the craft, you'll have a better chance at longevity.