Thinking on Your Feet Quotes

Improvisation is empowering because it welcomes the unknown. And since what's impossible is always unknown, it allows me to believe I can cheat the impossible.

I've never really prided myself as being quick on my feet. Maybe you've had the experience where somebody's asked you a question and you give an answer, then later in the day you think, "Oh, I wish I'd said that!" I tend to journal these things and put the answers in sermons.

The trouble with improv is that it is often about being funny in the moment without any real consideration for the bigger picture.

I'm really keen to try things. I love improvisation. It's quite exciting.

Improvisation means coming to the situation without rigid expectations or preconceptions. The key to improvisation is motion — you keep going forward, fearful or not, living from moment to moment. That’s how life is.

When we got to the part where we had to improvise an argument in a poetic language, I got cold feet. "I can't do this," I said. "I don't know what to say." "Say anything," he said. "You can't make a mistake when you improvise." "What if I mess it up? What if I screw up the rhythm?" "You can't," he said. "It's like drumming. If you miss a beat, you create another." In this simple exchange, Sam taught me the secret of improvisation, one that I have accessed my whole life.

To be always ready a man must be able to cut a knot, for everything cannot be untied.

I always think of the good comebacks on the car ride home.

It's always fun to improvise.

I'm not necessarily a form player, more of an in-the-moment player.

One of the most important things a person can learn to do is to make something out of whatever he or she happens to have at the moment.

Fall, then figure out what to do on the way down.

My crutch was, in improvs, when in doubt, play insane, because you didn't have to excuse anything that came out of your mouth. It didn't have to make sense.

Life is unfair and improv is a great metaphor of that.

I love improv-ing, you know, from very early on when I started acting the school that I went to and everything was very big on ad-libbing and improv-ing and messing things up, so I feel very comfortable doing stuff like that.

Life is improvisation. All of those [improv] classes were like church to me. The training had seeped into me and changed who I am.

A lot of improvisation ends up being about just thinking outside of the box in the scene. It's not improvisation as much as it is quickness or making it real.

My coach at UConn, Geno Auriemma, taught me to take more risks, because in basketball, if you overthink things, the moment will pass you by. That's good advice for life off the court, too.

Really, improv is all about creating for what's around you, in the moment, so it fits in a way that you can't see the seams. It's like a great jazz combo. I still do it.

When you're improvising, you're relying on this connection to creativity.

It may seem like improv because it flows quite naturally, and a little bit of leeway for improvisation is good, but you have to be judicious with it. So it's good, but sometimes people deify it. You can't improvise your way out of a paper hat.

Sometimes you can write a great scene, but when you're actually in a situation and it doesn't work, you have to be flexible enough to make it work for you.

Practice your improv more than learn your lines. 'Cause there's no way you'll be able to learn all those lines in a short time. You have to realize what you know and what you don't know - and what you don't know, just come up with three alternate lines or improv that you can put in that spot.

Be decisive even when confused – especially when confused.

Never write down your speeches beforehand; if you do, you may perhaps be a good declaimer, but will never be a debater.