Bennett Miller Quotes

I can't be in a film that I wouldn't like to watch as audience.

I criticize my own work pretty harshly.

I have learned to watch myself and give myself constructive criticism. Although I have to cover my face and peek sometimes!

If you want to be a legitimate artist, it's more important what you say no to.

I don't watch my movies. I just get too critical of myself.

This may sound like common sense, but the unfortunate reality is that objective self-review and recalibration are rarely the norm with most social programs. The widespread belief that commitment, good intentions, and good deeds are enough carries the day.

We're constantly rationalizing where we stand and our own code and dealing with, you know, how you can be the best version of yourself.

Any song I don't feel good about, I shelve. Anything you ever hear me sing, it's because I want to.

One must not hope to be more than one can be.

When I direct and have to look at filmed scenes of myself, I suck.

Going back to my film education, I always have that voice in my head that's always screaming, 'Sell out!' And that's good: you want that, because it keeps you on your toes, and it's important to remember what's actually important.

I'm not that in control of myself that I could be specific about exactly the way I'm doing everything as it happens. I'm just trying my best.

The preacher's sharpest and strongest preaching should be to himself. His most difficult, delicate, laborious, and thorough work must be with himself.

I think about the audience in the sense that I serve as my own audience. I have to please myself the way, if I saw the movie in a theater, I would be pleased. Do I think about catering to an audience? No.

You can't please everybody all the time, but I think for the most part we tend to maintain a healthy level of self-reference to kind of make sure we continue to push things forward.

I'm my own worst critic and I think everyone in the band is a perfectionist.

People need to be edited; life needs to be edited. I need to be edited.

Without sounding pompous, I really do feel that I have a set of standards that I must adhere to, even leaving aside considerations of what the readers expect.

Reminding myself that I have a tailbone keeps me in check.

I think sometimes you have high expectations for people because you have high expectations for yourself.

If you're an old pro, you know how well you're doing when you're doing it, and your inner government spanks you if you're not doing well.

I'm extremely self-critical. Although I try not to be ridiculous about it, wearing horsehair shirts and all that. It's a private exercise I don't necessarily share with other people.

I can't judge my own stuff. That's for others. But those are the three things that I admire.

A writer is unfair to himself when he is unable to be hard on himself.

Anyone can identify with those moments in life where circumstances or people inform us that we've strayed from the path of our better nature and intentions. We know what that's like, and we resist it - so as not to feel like we're bad people.