Garson Kanin Quotations

A man ninety years old was asked to what he attributed his longevity. I reckon, he said, with a twinkle in his eye, it because most nights I went to bed and slept when I should have sat up and worried.

The best part of one's life is the working part, the creative part. Believe me, I love to succeed... However, the real spiritual and emotional excitement is in the doing.

Books are men of higher stature; the only men that speak aloud for future times to hear.

In a professional once engaged, the performance of the job comes first.

The use of talent is far more important than the possession of talent.

Amateurs hope. Professional work.

Amateur feed on hope. Professionals work.

As is the case with all original creators, Charles Chaplin's working life was an amalgam of arrogant self-confidence and deflating self-doubt.

So it can be seen that the trouble with the motion picture art was (and is) that it is too much an industry; and the trouble with the motion picture industry is that it is too much an art. It is out of this basic contradiction that most of the ills of the form arise.

I want everybody to be smart. As smart as they can be. A world of ignorant people is too dangerous to live in.

There are thousands of causes for stress, and one antidote to stress is self-expression. That's what happens to me every day. My thoughts get off my chest, down my sleeves and onto my pad.