Wynton Marsalis Quotes

Genius does what it must, and talent does what it can.

I'm interested in all forms of performance, yet I think it's difficult to be as equally talented in all of them as they call for such different skills. At the moment, I still feel I'm learning and want as much experience and variety as possible.

I've had wonderful collaborators. They're very different, just as actors are. Working on a show with Nathan Lane is different from working on a show with Chita Rivera. It keeps you on your toes because it's different every time.

He's a fantastic actor, Kelsey Grammer. You don't have that kind of career without having a talent, without having something to say and to give to an audience.

All good actors are very bright. You can't be stupid and a good actor. You may be inarticulate, you may not be highly educated, but all good actors are quick-witted, some of them dazzlingly so. All you do is guide them.

Peter Weir is remarkable. He can do anything.

Brains and a sense of humor trump everything else.

I've always maintained that people that are funny and smart can do anything in film.

Genius gives birth, talent delivers.

I love acting. And if there's a niche that needs filling, I'm happy to get in there and try to fill it.

Painting does not come from intelligence so much, as from sight and feeling and invention.

Genius is, to be sure, not a matter of arbitrariness, but rather of freedom, just as wit, love, and faith, which once shall become arts and disciplines. We should demand genius from everybody, without, however, expecting it.

I think I'm open to adventures and surprises. As a performer, I'm really just naturally talented. And those roles may not look as good on paper, but I know how to create them on screen. I like to have fun and interpret my roles in my own way.

If you can play, you can play anything. I don't like classifications.

A truly great artist has many talents.

I am such a bloody talented guy. I might go into painting or something like that.

The great artist takes what he needs.

As children, we come into the world with a natural desire to both speak and draw. Society makes sure that we learn language properly, right from the beginning, but art is treated as a gift of innate genius, something we either have or don't.

What a genius, that Picasso. It is a pity he doesn't paint.

I think if you had different artists approaching the material in different styles, that's very different. I think it's an interesting thing to discover, what's present in the work even when you're shifting the styles. I've just found it a much stronger way to work.

I would be happy to play any roles.

My skills are not of the highest caliber, but I know a thing or two, and I occasionally produce a painting that contains passages of truth and beauty.

That's a skill that I'm proud of: to be able to be a jazz musician and go a bit crazy sometimes and other times be able to pull it all in and lay it down like a track.

Wit is the god of moments, but Genius is the god of ages.

My goal is to be able to play wherever my team needs me.