Perhaps five or even ten per cent of men can do something rather well. It is a tiny minority who can do anything really well, and the number of men who can do two things well is negligible. If a man has any genuine talent, he should be ready to make almost any sacrifice in order to cultivate it to the full.
Blackberry Smoke is the real deal!
Seek not to shine by borrow'd lights alone.
The remarkable thing about Shakespeare is that he really is very good, in spite of all the people who say he is very good.
When we did Diplomats music, it was all genuine, and I think that's why people love it so much, because they seen a group of kids from Harlem that had almost nothing come up to be platinum-selling artists, and people rode that wave with us.
Genuinely love doing standup and I'm a comedian first, so for me what makes my standup special is the fact that I don't have to adapt or adjust. I am who I am. I appeal to everyone, hence in the movie doing a world tour.
When people see me in something and say, 'That's just you - that's not acting,' it's the best compliment I can get.
I never had to cheat, I get them with what I got.
You shouldn't be in the music business if you're posing.
Only dumb people try to impress smart people. Smart people just do what they do.
I want to see genuine talent rewarded.
Everybody says they were 'born to sing' but you can suss the good from the bad. You can tell who's in it for the music.
I don't scoff at the desire to make good movies. I scoff at the quality at poseurs masquerading as masters of the medium.
I'd be very suspicious of anybody that seems to have to move to the next level of expression. I distrust that: now I'm writing a book, now I'm being an actor. It should be a natural thing. I think it's a natural thing for you to act. But I think that people that feel that, because they've written one maybe quite beautiful love song that equips them to play Romeo, is probably misguided.
Mannerism always wants to be finished and doesn't enjoy the process. Genuine, truly great talent, however, finds its greatest satisfaction in the production.
I adore Bette Davis and Vivien Leigh, but more because they were good actresses. That's what makes me interested in them, that they didn't present themselves as idols; they were just doing their jobs.
It's the people who try to be clever who never are; the people who are clever never think of trying to be.
It's not easy to go from reality TV to being taken seriously as an artist, so I don't think I'll be doing reality TV again because of that.
Sometimes, when you work with mediocre talents, they feel entitled. They act like stars. Genuinely talented people don't.
Putting TV stars in plays just to get people in is wrong. You have to have the right people in the right parts. Stunt casting and being gimmicky does the theatre a great disservice. You have to lure people by getting them excited about a theatrical experience.
Out of the thousands who are known or who want to be known as poets, maybe one or two are genuine and the rest are fakes, hanging around the sacred precincts, trying to look like the real thing.
I like playing a character that admires real musicianship, and real talent and hard work. I think that's a good message for everyone.
Some people are instantly brilliant. The Kenneth Branaghs of this world are ready-formed actors at 23 - he has used his success in lots of different ways - but there are people out there for whom acting is: 'Ooh, I can get on the telly and be famous.'
I know so many acting careers that are deliberately kickstarted by a publicist placing a bit of rubbish in a newspaper. And I don't want that. If someone recognises me, I want it to be because they've seen me in something, not because they have seen me at something.
Real merit of any kind cannot long be concealed; it will be discovered, and nothing can depreciate it but a man exhibiting it himself. It may not always be rewarded as it ought; but it will always be known.
