Michael > Michael's Quotes

“We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful about what we pretend to be.”
― Kurt Vonnegut, Mother Night

“Read Frank’s poem, “Advice to the Players.” It talks about all of this, about the human need to create.”
― James Franco, Actors Anonymous: A Novel

“Always have one artistic thing that is pure, at least one thing, where you don’t compromise. You can do other things to make money, but have one pure area.”
― James Franco, Actors Anonymous: A Novel

“Create your world around your work. Create your work around your life. Let other people help you shape it.”
― James Franco, Actors Anonymous: A Novel

“You also need love. Your characters need to love something, otherwise they will be unlovable.”
― James Franco, Actors Anonymous: A Novel

“Make your characters interested in something. Striving for something. In need of something. Good at something. This will make them likeable and interesting.”
― James Franco, Actors Anonymous: A Novel

“You want to be interesting? Be interested.”
― James Franco, Actors Anonymous: A Novel

“There are no white knights, Soph. Not like in your stories. You have to see people for what they are, not what you want them to be.”
― Megan Chance, Inamorata

“It wasn’t just her words, it was her way of putting them together, the voice that seemed to gain power with each one, so that my head had been filled with images so magically vibrant it was as if I had seen them with my own eyes. She changed the world into something fine. She made one believe.”
― Megan Chance, Inamorata

“There are no boring stories. Only a failure to truly listen.”
― Megan Chance, Inamorata

“Strange, don’t you think, that nuns and monks make the most sensual food and drink?”
― Megan Chance, Inamorata

“Decide what your currency is early. Let go of what you will never have. People who do this are happier and sexier.”
― Amy Poehler, Yes Please

“People are their most beautiful when they are laughing, crying, dancing, playing, telling the truth, and being chased in a fun way.”
― Amy Poehler, Yes Please

“Hopefully as you get older, you start to learn how to live with your demon. It’s hard at first. Some people give their demon so much room that there is no space in their head or bed for love. They feed their demon and it gets really strong and then it makes them stay in abusive relationships or starve their beautiful bodies. But sometimes, you get a little older and get a little bored of the demon. Through good therapy and friends and self-love you can practice treating the demon like a hacky, annoying cousin. Maybe a day even comes when you are getting dressed for a fancy event and it whispers, “You aren’t pretty,” and you go, “I know, I know, now let me find my earrings.” Sometimes you say, “Demon, I promise you I will let you remind me of my ugliness, but right now I am having hot sex so I will check in later.”
― Amy Poehler, Yes Please

“Sticking up for ourselves in the same way we would one of our friends is a hard but satisfying thing to do. Sometimes it works.”
― Amy Poehler, Yes Please

“I asked the indefatigable Betty White what she was going to do when she got home. She told me she was going to fix herself a “vodka on the rocks and eat a cold hot dog.” In one sentence, she proved my theory and made me excited for my future.”
― Amy Poehler, Yes Please

“A lot of people don’t know I am always thisfuckingclose to doing some crazy shit.”
― Amy Poehler, Yes Please

“Please don’t drive drunk, okay? Seriously. It’s so fucked up. But by all means, walk drunk. That looks hilarious. Everyone loves to watch someone act like they are trying to make it to safety during a hurricane.”
― Amy Poehler, Yes Please

“person’s tragedy does not make up their entire life. A story carves deep grooves into our brains each time we tell it. But we aren’t one story. We can change our stories.”
― Amy Poehler, Yes Please

“go back to the Dalai Lama. He says, “I think technology has really increased human ability. But technology cannot produce compassion.”
― Amy Poehler, Yes Please

“The only way we will survive is by being kind. The only way we can get by in this world is through the help we receive from others. No one can do it alone, no matter how great the machines are.”
― Amy Poehler, Yes Please

“Everything could end at any moment. The difference between life and death was one breath, one second, one act. And that meant that life was worth everything, every minute of every day.”
― Gwenda Bond, Girl on a Wire

“And then he thought, profoundly, how there was something grand about living in hope, but also something terribly unreal and incomplete about it, because when you were hoping, you were not doing or living or experiencing the Now,”
― Larry Kramer, Faggots

“Things happen in your life that leave an imprint. Injustice left the deepest imprint on mine.”
― Lee Grant, I Said Yes to Everything: A Memoir

“my father for advice he’d tell you, “The secret to being a successful comedian is to never stop talking until you hear someone laugh.” Meaning: Persevere. Meaning: Be determined. Make just one person laugh; then leverage that person and that joke into more laughter. As some people decide you’re funny, increasing numbers of people will begin to agree.”
― Chuck Palahniuk, Damned

“It’s not your job to decide whether people should think you’re important or not, hey? Huh? What others think of us is none of our business. Maybe you’re more important than you give yourself credit for. This could be God’s way of showing you something you should know but don’t.”
― Alan Kaufman, Drunken Angel: A Memoir

“The more sober you get, the more clearly you feel,”
― Alan Kaufman, Drunken Angel: A Memoir

“Words. Empty words. Sometimes I hate words. Sometimes they fail human experience. Sometimes words are a way to avoid the truth.”
― Alan Kaufman, Drunken Angel: A Memoir

“In many respects, recovery was, by nature, iconoclastic—a smashing of old and rigid ideas to allow for new life-giving perspectives.”
― Alan Kaufman, Drunken Angel: A Memoir

“You’re not destined or chosen, I wish I could tell you that you were if that would make it easier, but it’s not true. You’re in the right place at the right time, and you care enough to do what needs to be done. Sometimes that’s enough.”
― Erin Morgenstern, The Night Circus