Tom Stoppard Quotes

I've never had a plan, I've always done things from instinct.

I never had a plan; I always follow my intuition.

I'm not a big planner; I decide by intuition.

I think that's the thing I learned at 'Saturday Night Live' - any time I would try and strategize, I would always, always fall on my face. Things worked out when I tried to make it about what I was feeling at that moment and what I was into in that moment of my life.

As an idea occurs to me, I'll either follow it or not, but I'm more instinctive than master-planner about stuff.

I'm very unpredictable, but at the end of the day, I'm working. Sometimes things change in my life. It's like, 'Hold up - that ain't feel good. That felt good.' And that's how I look at anything I do.

I don't really plan. I'm almost intuitive about things.

I go by instinct - I don't worry about experience.

I don't plan. I don't think, 'I have to do this kind of part 'cause I've done that kind of part.' I'm not a very good planner.

You can't second-guess baseball. You can't second-guess yourself.

I think there are actors who are like, 'Okay, what am I doing, how am I doing it, what's the appeal? Tell me what to do, what are the exact lines from the script? Okay, I got it.' I am not that way. I would be a terrible bus driver. I'd want to be like, 'Oh, let's take this side road! Let's see what happens when we go down this back alley.'

In my work, I have never had any use for anything that I have known in advance.

I usually go with the first instinct, and then build upon that.

When I was younger, I talked to the adults around me that I respected most about how they got where they were, and none of them plotted a course they could have predicted, so it seemed a waste of time to plan too long-term. Since then, I've always gone on my instincts.

I'm always surprised at what I actually end up doing because I don't have a strategy or a game plan, especially now that I'm making my own choices.

Really, I'm never much of a goal-setter. Whenever I've tried to make big, solid plans, they don't happen. I'm more into whatever the circumstances are that present themselves, making wise decisions around that.

I truly don't have any formula for the choices I make.

There's actually something interesting about having no rehearsal time - you have to just walk in and go with your gut, which is exciting.

I have always moved by intuition alone. I have no system, literary or political. I have no guiding political idea.

I don't plan a career. That doesn't work for me. I just have to go with my gut.

I have values I believe in and certain things I stand for.

Life is like music, it must be composed by ear, feeling and instinct, not by rule. Nevertheless one had better know the rules, for they sometimes guide in doubtful cases, though not often.

I research every part thoroughly. I talk it out with my actor friends, but then I throw it all away when I get to the set. You have to be spontaneous.

A little reflection will show us that every belief, even the simplest and most fundamental, goes beyond experience when regarded as a guide to our actions.

Whenever I've done anything where I feel like, 'Oh, it would be smart to do that,' it's always been a mistake. Whenever I do the 'Oh, it would be fun to do that,' it's always paid dividends.