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I had a bunch of lean years where I had to do things, a lot of which I wasn’t wildly enthusiastic about.

Alan Arkin

If you want to be an actor and you love acting, you can do it whether you’re doing something else or not.
ALAN ARKIN

Acting Actor Else Love Something Want
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
A product is most easily sold when it has an identity. So they wrap you all up and put a label on you.
ALAN ARKIN

Easily Identity Label More Product Put Sold Wrap
I gotta keep busy. I’m not happy unless I’m working on two, three things.
ALAN ARKIN

Busy Gotta Happy Keep Thing Three Two Unless Work
But one of the things I learned from improvising is that all of life is an improvisation, whether you like it or not.
ALAN ARKIN

All Improve Improvisation Learn Life One Thing
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
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
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
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
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
I don’t think it does the audience any good to know what I do to prepare.
ALAN ARKIN

Audience Good Keep Know Prepare Surprise Think
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
We might just as well let the rest of it go, join the party, and dance our hearts out.
ALAN ARKIN

Dance Heart Join Just Let might Out Party Rest
I don’t love the business. I never wanted to be a part of it. I don’t think any actor does.
ALAN ARKIN

Business Love never
[The business is] more corporate and more formulaic and less experiential.
ALAN ARKIN

Business Corporate Experimental Formulaic Less More
Every physicist knows that things connect with each other. To isolate things is not the way the universe works – winning best actor is arbitrary.
ALAN ARKIN

Actor Arbitrary Best Connect Isolate Physicist Thing Universe Win Work
I played guitar. I’ve always considered myself an actor, but I wasn’t making a living as an actor. So I was in a couple of folk groups that managed to keep me in underwear and burritos.
ALAN ARKIN

Actor Burritos Consider Folk Group Guitar Manage Myself Play Underwear
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
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
I used to watch the world as if it was a performance and I would realize that certain things that people did moved me, and certain things didn’t move me, and I tried to analyze.
ALAN ARKIN

Analyze Certain Move Performance Thing Try Watch World
TV has taken reflection out of the human condition. People didn’t use to have a ready answer for everything, whether they knew something about it or not.
ALAN ARKIN

Answer Condition Everything Human Read Reflection Television
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

Achieve Confront Faceless Happy Moment Participatlly Place Work
If I’m doing a fake movie, it’s gonna be a fake hit.
ALAN ARKIN

Done Fake Hit Movie
I don’t believe there’s anything in life you can’t go back and fix.
ALAN ARKIN

Anything Back Believe Fix
I know that if I can’t move people, then I have no business being an actor.
ALAN ARKIN

Actor Business Know People
My favorite kind of film is serious comedy. Comedy with serious underpinning.
ALAN ARKIN

Comedy Favorite Film Kind Serious

I had a bunch of lean years where I had to do things, a lot of which I wasn’t wildly enthusiastic about.

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I had a bunch of lean years where I had to do things, a lot of which I wasn’t wildly enthusiastic about.

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