Renny Harlin Quotes

It's good to keep in mind that prominence is always a mix of hard work, eloquence in your practice, good timing and fortuitous social relations. Everything can't be personalized.

A good idea is about ten percent and implementation and hard work, and luck is 90 percent.

To be successful you have to be lucky, or a little mad, or very talented, or find yourself in a rapid growth field.

The reality is that SXSW is packed with brilliant entrepreneurs, investors and partners. They're everywhere, zipping back and forth like thousands of atoms. Your chances of colliding with one actually improve just by standing still.

The first essential in writing about anything is that the writer should have no experience of the matter.

Like everyone else, I try to do quality work with great directors. But much of it has to do with luck.

I think in every industry you need to have a lot of talent; you need to have a lot of drive, but you need a little bit of luck.

Americans are fighters. We're tough, resourceful and creative, and if we have the chance to fight on a level playing field, where everyone pays a fair share and everyone has a real shot, then no one - no one can stop us.

I'm really lucky, because I've been able to go places and meet people you can only dream of.

I have a very big phone book and a very long reach around the world. And I think - I don't think, I know - that 95 percent of the people who I know who weren't born into success who have become successful and done things that are different and made a lot of money and had a lot of excitement in their life are people who never hear the word 'no.'

I sort of got lucky in that I was able to carve a niche for myself.

I always had ambitions to work in the U.K. I just never thought it was gonna happen so soon. So I think, obviously, I wouldn't have gotten 'The Riot Club' if I wasn't in England. I wouldn't have gotten 'Pride' if I hadn't done 'The Riot Club.' And so maybe I would just have been on a totally different trajectory, but who knows?

Somebody with no connection to the film industry may succeed, and somebody with all connections to the industry may not.

I think that some actors who make it in Hollywood are very talented. There are some of my heroes, the Meryl Streeps of the world, a lot of people that I love their work but I think a lot of it is luck, looks, strategic alliances and relationships, your agent and a lot of business components.

I consider myself very fortunate. I mean, I think there's that old saying, 'Where there's a will, there's a way,' and I just have such a passion for jazz music and playing the piano that I just find a way to make it work, so to speak. Fortunately, I have so far.

It is about meeting the right people at the right time that makes you go where you do. And I know that in our industry, everyone works hard but not everyone gets recognition.

Even with talent, it's who you meet at the right time that tips the scales.

I think that one can have luck if one tries to create an atmosphere of spontaneity.

I had some good opportunities. I was lucky to have had the chance to do things differently. Architecture is about surprise.

I never dreamed about being on a hit television series. I've never really related my dreams to that specific of a work goal. I was always enjoying the moment. Acting, writing, looking for roles and getting involved with people and trying to create something that would be entertaining to people. With "E.R." we were all very lucky to get this combination of people together in the right story in the right way to take it to the level it has reached.

Having a good network can be invaluable. It opens doors for you and allows you to enter into opportunities that are beneficial to your business. In this sense, 'who you know' is undoubtedly important, but to me 'what you know' is more important because once an opportunity shows itself, it is up to you to make the most of it, and this is down to your knowledge and skill.

A producer came to me about doing a memoir, and at first I thought, "Well, it's a little bland." But then I realized that almost everything that's happened to me was the result of being in the right place at the right time. And I thought "Well, luck has a lot to do with it," so I wrote it from that perspective.

Do as many ideas as possible. The right idea will pick you.

Life's just a merry-go-round. Come on up. You might get a brass ring.

For me, I've been really, really lucky because I have been able to play a lot of different parts.