A Quote by John Cassavetes

The most difficult thing in the world is to reveal yourself, to express what you have to. As an artist, I feel that we must try many things - but above all we must dare to fail. You must be willing to risk everything to really express it all.

John Cassavetes

Quote Topics

Above Artist Dare Difficult Difficult Thing Everything Express Fail Feel Many Most Most Difficult Thing Must Really Reveal Risk Thing Things Try Willing World Yourself

Quote Author

John Cassavetes
American - Actor
December 9, 1929 - February 3, 1989

Most people don't know what they want or feel. And for everyone, myself included, It's very difficult to say what you mean when what you mean is painful. The most difficult thing in the world is to reveal yourself, to express what you have to... As an artist, I feel that we must try many things - but above all, we must dare to fail. You must have the courage to be bad - to be willing to risk everything to really express it all.

John Cassavetes

As an artist, I feel that we must try many things - but above all we must dare to fail.

John Cassavetes

As an artist, I feel that we must try many things - but above all we must dare to fail...Say what you are. Not what you would like to be. Not what you have to be. Just say what you are. And what you are is good enough.

John Cassavetes

You must be willing to risk everything to really express it all.

John Cassavetes

Suppose that a person writes what she must. That is only the first step of becoming a writer. The work must survive the moment of creation. It must get out to an audience. She or he must dare to show the work. She must risk ridicule, misunderstanding, scandal, condemnation, & what's often worse, none of the above: silence. No attention at all.

Marge Piercy

If you're not an actor, or if you're any other kind of artist, there's this sense that, "I must express this thing." Why make a painting if you don't feel like you have to for something inside of yourself? Why make a song if you don't feel like you have to because there's something that you need to get out? And when you're an actor and you're not performing text that you've written, I think there's this bizarre disconnect with the must-ness of it.

Lola Kirke

What must novel dialogue . . . really be and do? It must be pointed, intentional, relevant. It must crystallize situation. It must express character. It must advance plot. During dialogue, the characters confront one another. The confrontation is in itself an occasion. Each one of these occasions, throughout the novel, is unique.

Elizabeth Bowen

Before you can express love, you must find love. You must know love within yourself before you can express it. You must love yourself before you can give it to another.

Tae Yun Kim

Laugh and dare to try to love somebody, starting with yourself. You must love yourself first, of course, and you must protect yourself so that nobody overrides you, overrules you, or steps on you. Just say, 'Just a minute. I'm worth everything, dear.'

Maya Angelou

The important thing is not what we write but how we write, and in my opinion the modern writer must be an adventurer above all, willing to take every risk, and be prepared to founder in his effort if need be. In other words we must write dangerously

James Joyce

We must never pretend appreciation, but if we feel it, then we must express it

Deepak Chopra

She must express life, death, happiness, sorrow, love and anger, but above all she must have dignity.

Taheyya Kariokka

In a world filled with hate, we must still dare to hope. In a world filled with anger, we must still dare to comfort. In a world filled with despair, we must still dare to dream. And in a world filled with distrust, we must still dare to believe.

Michael Jackson

When it aims to express a love of the world it refuses to conceal the many reasons why the world is hard to love, though we must love it because we have no other, and to fail to love it is not to exist at all.

Mark Van Doren

The brave man is not the one without fear but the one who does what he must despite being afraid. To succeed, you must be willing to risk total failure; you must learn this.