John Lahr Quotes

Have I said dumb things? Absolutely, who hasn't? But I have never backed away from being called out on something I did or said wrong.

The only players I hurt with my words are the ones who have an inflated opinion of their ability. I can't worry about that.

To show resentment at a reproach is to acknowledge that one may have deserved it.

Once you take yourself too seriously the art will suffer.

The easiest way to not believe your own hype is to not know what people are saying about you.

Oh! blame not the bard.

The more I got into presenting things to the world, the further it was taking me away from what I was, which was someone who just used to sit quietly at a piano and sing and play. It became very important to me not to lose sight of that.

Each of us in our time in high office had our ample share of severe critics. But only we actually knew, far better than our worst critics ever dreamed, how truly fallible and all-too-human each of us really was.

I've got no pretence that I want to do 'Hamlet' or anything, I know my limitations.

I will make it a point to voice my opinions. But if I am at fault, I will also apologise.

No one is perfect. Your ERA is not zero. You're not going to have 30 wins. And your batting average isn't going to be 1.000. So you don't have the right to verbally talk out about somebody. Look at yourself. Did you do everything you could do? Did you start your day off right? Are you perfect?

I've screwed up a lot, but I've always admitted it.

I would just imagine there's a criticism for just about everything, if you want to take something down. No one's invincible. The Jicks are a work in progress and we don't think everything we do is the bee's knees or something, we're just trying our best to get turned on by what we're doing.

I seldom get self-righteous, and even when I am being impolite (almost always on purpose - there's an art to insulting people, too), I tend to try to not be too serious about it. And most of the time it means that I can take criticism constructively, and sometimes just change my opinion on the fly and laugh at myself over having turned on a dime.

When friends and acquaintances are telling you [that] you are a genius, before you accept their opinion, take a moment to remember what you always thought of their opinions in the past.

If any speak ill of thee, fly home to thy own conscience and examine thy heart. If thou art guilty, it is a just correction; if not guilty, it is a fair instruction.

I made my share of mistakes. People can look at that as what not to do, and if they choose to make fun of it, that's fine. I can't control that. All I know is that I can control myself. And at that point in my life, I wasn't even able to do that.

Blame is a neat little device that you can use whenever you don't want to take responsibility for something in your life. Use it and you will avoid all risks and impede your own growth.

Making art is nothing but risk, always. If it's not risk, it's no good.

In order to turn around and do something better, we must first escape the vicious circle of self-righteousness and denial. And that calls for the humility to say "I'm sorry. Please forgive me."

If you don't like my opinion of you, you can always improve

My opinions and principles are subjects of just criticism.

Were we faultless, we would not derive such satisfaction from remarking the faults of others.

The moment of recognizing your own lack of talent is a flash of genius.

The humble man makes room for progress; the proud man believes he is already there.