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Confronting some stern and faceless judge who would condemn me to a pit of hell if I didn’t achieve the “zone,” if even for a moment. Not a particularly happy place to work from.

Alan Arkin

I’m an actor. My life as an actor depends on who sends me what. I’m just taking the best stuff that I can find that’s sent my way, regardless of how big or little the paycheck is.
ALAN ARKIN

Actor Best Depend Life Little Paycheck Regard Send Stuff Take What
” Education does not mean jamming information into somebody’s head. Rather, it’s that ancient idea that all knowledge is within us; to teach is to help somebody pull it out of themselves.
ALAN ARKIN

Ancient Education Help Idea Information Jam Knowledge Mean Pull Somebody Teach Themselves
Two-thirds of American movies are extensions of commercials — they tell you how to feel and they tell you how to think — rather than letting you figure it out on your own.
ALAN ARKIN

Commercial Country Extension Feel Figure Now Out Rather Tell
My favorite kind of film is serious comedy. Comedy with serious underpinning.
ALAN ARKIN

Comedy Favorite Film Kind Serious
No matter how much time you spend reading books or following your intuition, you’re gonna screw it up. Fifty times. You can’t do parenting right.
ALAN ARKIN

Fifth Follow How Initiation Matter Paren Read Right Spend Time
Things are never going to turn out how you think they will.
ALAN ARKIN

Go Know never Out React Thing Turn
I don’t believe in competitions between artists. This is insane. Who has the authority to say someone is better?
ALAN ARKIN

Artist Believe Between Competition Insane Someone
I read somewhere that some people believe that the entire universe is a matrix of living thought. And I said, “Man, if that’s not a definition of God, I don’t know what is.
ALAN ARKIN

Believe Definition Entire God Man People Through Universe
Hollywood is a strange place. The class structure here is more rigid than almost anyplace I’ve ever experienced. It’s made more difficult by the fact that it’s constantly changing.
ALAN ARKIN

Almost Anyplace Change Constant Difficult Experience Fact Hollywood More Place Rigid Strange Structure
Marriage requires searing honesty at all costs. I learned that from my third wife.
ALAN ARKIN

Cost Honest Learn Marriage Require Sear Third Wife
No matter what you do or where you are, you’re going to be missing out on something.
ALAN ARKIN

Go Matter Miss Missing Something
Is it possible to have an endless series of successes without falling on our faces?
ALAN ARKIN

Fall Risk Thinking
It keeps it more of a surprise. I don’t feel like it has to be a mystery.
ALAN ARKIN

Feel Keep Like More Mystery Surprise
It’s murder to doubt yourself in life. It took until I was 45 to get to that point.
ALAN ARKIN

Doubt Murder Point Took Until Yourself
[The business is] more corporate and more formulaic and less experiential.
ALAN ARKIN

Business Corporate Experimental Formulaic Less More
Either you’re growing or you’re decaying; there’s no middle ground. If you’re standing still, you’re decaying.
ALAN ARKIN

Decay Ground Grow Middle Still
Even at that age, six and seven and eight, why I was moved by certain things they did
ALAN ARKIN

Age Certain Eight Even Move Seven Six Thing
Improvisation sometimes seemed more like jazz than acting, like verbal jazz, with the actors playing a theme back and forth, and then introducing another themeM
ALAN ARKIN

Act Another Improvisation Introduce Jazz More Seem Sometimes Theme Verbal
Ten years ago, it would have been impossible to imagine a Cockney singing group with a Southern Negro style and Indian and electronic music.
ALAN ARKIN

Cockney Electronic Imagine Impossible Indian Negro Sing Southern Ten Year
I had a hard time treating my field as if it’s horse racing, putting actors in competition against each other.
ALAN ARKIN

Actor Against Competition Each Field Hard Horse Other Put Race Time Treat
Incorporating it, somehow trying to work their way all together to a meaning of some kind, or at least a conclusion.
ALAN ARKIN

Conclusion Kind Least Mean Some Somehow Together Try Work
Creativity means learning where the rules exist, and then breaking them! Saying, “It’s better this way.” But you have to know the rules in order to break them with any grace.
ALAN ARKIN

Break Creativity Exist Grace Learn Order Rule Say
I see how the industry and the studios feel it’s important, but I don’t really have a feeling for being in competition.
ALAN ARKIN

Competition Feel Important Industry Realy See Studious
IN order to inform what I’m doing; otherwise, it just becomes the snake eating its own tail. Vampirism.
ALAN ARKIN

Become Done Eat Inform Order Otherwise Own Snake Tail Vampirism
For many years my acting came from a place of surmounting some enormous obstacle.
ALAN ARKIN

Acting Came Enormous Many Obstacle Place Some Surround Year
That’s what we’re all doing, all the time, whether we know it or not. Whether we like it or not. Creating something on the spur of the moment with the materials at hand.
ALAN ARKIN

All Create Do Hand Like Material Movement Something Time
The ancient Vedas – the oldest Hindu philosophy – and modern science agree that time is an illusion. If that’s true, there’s no such thing as a past or a future – it’s all one huge now. So what you fix now affects the past and the future.
ALAN ARKIN

Ancient Future Hindu Huge Illusion Modern Now Oldest Past Philosophy Science Time Vedas

Confronting some stern and faceless judge who would condemn me to a pit of hell if I didn’t achieve the “zone,” if even for a moment. Not a particularly happy place to work from.

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Confronting some stern and faceless judge who would condemn me to a pit of hell if I didn’t achieve the “zone,” if even for a moment. Not a particularly happy place to work from.

Related Topics

Popular Authors

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