Professional Resilience Quotes

This is what I signed up for. I’m not here going ‘Oh, they’re so mean to me, and it’s so hard for me.’ What I do for a living puts me in the spotlight. They pay me for it.

If the movie does well, or it doesn't do so well, some movies get great reviews, some movies don't... that's just part of what I do for a living. I just move through all that; that doesn't ever stop me.

I think there's some evidence that when it comes to being a doctor or nurse, a police officer or therapist, that empathetic engagement leads to burn-out. Imagine if you're dealing with severely ill children, and you felt their pain all the time, and the pain of their parents - you wouldn't be able to do that job for very long. It would kill you.

The England manager didn't think I was good enough, and as a professional, you have to take it. Sure, it was disappointing, but all you can do is carry on playing well for your club and hope it changes. Unfortunately, it didn't.

In the early 1980s, I got into a war with my management - they just kept on suing me and I lost everything. So I had to go out on tour to make sure the electricity stayed on.

I do admire a lot of artists now who are completely multi-faceted - they're doing seven different jobs all at once and it doesn't seem to faze them whatsoever. It just astonishes me completely and I have nothing but admiration for them.

It's just the story of my career, really. I will have good weeks; I'll have bad weeks. It's just a roller-coaster.

When you do a film like 'My Soul to Take,' and people think it sucks, that hurts. We put a lot of work into it, and it's a good film, but you go on.

I intend to be making films until I'm an old lady. So, if God willing I get there, I need to create a paradigm for myself where I can make it regardless of whether or not they still like what I'm making.

Trust me: all of us walk around and look at each other, and without saying it, we all know we're thinking, 'Really dude? Were still here!' and pinch ourselves. Typically, careers have short life span, 10 years if you're lucky, so what we've done is amazing.

I never had a rejection slip in my life.

I just appreciate still having the longevity that I've had in my career.

In a business like the movie business, you're going to have a lot of people competing. Somebody is always coming behind them who wants their job. Being an actor is like being in quicksand: whatever you do, it disappears very quickly. You have to keep reminding people.

What's weird about the cinema business is that you have to have a thick skin while remaining vulnerable as an artist. It comes with time. You get dumped, your heart gets broken.

I was never the ingenue, so hopefully that'll make it easier to age and still work. I know a lot of actors who are really dissatisfied with where they're at even though some of them are huge stars and I feel like, 'Oh, my God, you're at the top.' Something interesting will come. It always does. I have faith.

I want to do amazing roles fit for my age in 30 years. I'm sure I'll be less popular and have less offers then, but I think I'll be able to do act well for my age at the time.

I wrote 'All is Lost' while editing 'Margin Call'. I did that long before I knew if I was ever going to get to make another movie.

People told me, when I was coming through the ranks, that a mark of a great actor is one who deals with the period of unemployment as well as they deal with the period of employment.

I look at it like this, this is what keeps me going: You see a lot of guys who are being traded and they get waived once they get to the team. That's never happened in my career. So once I've gotten traded, I've been able to sustain a role. I've been wanted.

In politics, you've got to have a fallback in our line of work because your career can be over in an instant. Not that I would make much money playing a harmonica.

The most important thing is to try to be focused on yourself, try to make yourself fit, and make sure your mind is ready, whatever will happen in your club or in your future club. That's part of our job.

Actors have to stay optimistic. The moment we start thinking otherwise, we're dead.

In my personal life I'm not very tough at all, but in my professional life, having to deal with being a woman in a man's world, I'm really tough. I never back down from a fight or an argument. I'm willing to stand there toe to toe with anyone.

I've been able to reinvent myself and to keep an audience going at whatever age. This is terrific. I mean, how many actors get that chance?

Today's business and health care climate may not be pleasant. Cutbacks, pay cuts and layoffs do not make anyone's job easy. But that does not mean that the humor need stop.