Raymond E. Feist Quotes

I've always believed that if you want to really try and make a great film, not a good film, but a great film, you have to take a lot of risks.

Brian Eno developed systems to keep himself on edge and to keep himself in a position where he's generating ideas.

Writing's like gambling. Unpredictable and sporadic successes make you more addicted, not less.

Rodgers & Hart had a few flops before they clicked. You know, it happens. I don't know anyone who always gets away with everything.

You can't always expect to work with a director who guarantees success.

There was always that thing with 'Johnny' - I always saw myself as his writer and PR. But when he got out there, I had no control. His whole thing was going off on those flights of fancy. Going, 'Let's see what we can possibly do that hasn't been done before up here.' And when it works, it's lovely; it's a great night.

Sometimes it works, sometimes it fails, but that's what we face when we're dealing with improvisation.

Everything's a risk, by the way, these days. Every film you make is a risk. There's no guarantee.

'Bloodshot,' for me, was unlike anything I'd ever done before, which was really the draw of it. In addition to trying to reconnect with my earlier work, I also wanted to try to do something that was completely new and different.

A poet is someone who stands outside in the rain hoping to be struck by lightning.

You make something, and you really have fun with it, and you try to put emotion in it, and at the end of the day, you have no idea how the tide is going to fall. You don't know if everyone's going to like it, if everyone's going to hate it, if it's going to be like you're a media darling, or all of a sudden you're a sellout. You have no idea.

The distance between insanity and genius is measured only by success.

The only time I have a good hunch the audience is going to be there is when I make the sequel to 'Jurassic Park' or I make another Indiana Jones movie. I know I've got a good shot at getting an audience on opening night. Everything else that is striking out into new territory is a crap shoot.

If no one ever took risks, Michaelangelo would have painted the Sistine floor.

Surf music at the time that I did it wasn't mainstream, nor were the Cheech and Chong albums. The risk comes from having the ability to do something that hadn't been done before that I thought was either interesting as an art form or just should be done.

It's difficult because nothing's preordained by plan and you can't control it. That's one of those joys and thrills and nerve-racking realities of being an actor. A lot has to do with luck, no matter what your talent or contribution can be.

The movies that will truly be successful will feel different than the movies of the year before.

What's missing from pop music is danger.

Originality is dangerous.

Ease is the enemy of the artist. When things get too easy, you're in trouble.

The fact is, when I wrote 'Juno' - and I think this is part of its charm and appeal - I didn't know how to write a movie. And I also had no idea it was going to get made!

My goal is always to make something unpredictable that feels inevitable in the end. It's getting harder to do that. Audiences are so sophisticated and so smart.

I feel every day that everything I create - everything I do - I want it to be a risk. I think when you take the big swings - and I've done plenty of big swings that I was told were never going to work - those are always the things that break through.

There is no guaranteed formula. And that's one of the interesting things about filmmaking. You could put $115 million in, and it doesn't guarantee success.

One of the biggest turnoffs is being presented with an idea that's already, to a degree, complete. That's not an adventure, and it's not a learning experience. It's more of a chore. Then you become a technician with taste, as opposed to an explorer and an author.