James Mercer Quotes

Don't be afraid of missing opportunities. Behind every failure is an opportunity somebody wishes they had missed.

I don't think actors should ever expect to get a role, because the disappointment is too great. You've got to think of things as an opportunity. An audition's an opportunity to have an audience.

You have to put yourself in a position to be lucky.

Every preseason, I feel I've done well, and it's just about being given a chance.

I don't expect any red carpet to the big leagues. If the opportunity comes, then it comes. But I don't think I'm owed anything.

The reason a lot of people do not recognize opportunity is because it usually goes around wearing overalls looking like hard work.

You may be disappointed if you fail, but you are doomed if you don't try.

The reality of the writer's world is that you set yourself up for future disappointment with every success that you deliver because you end up raising your audience's expectations.

He who risks and fails can be forgiven. He who never risks and never fails is a failure in his whole being.

Don't stink up the place with bad acting, if an opportunity comes your way.

I don't think I'm sharp enough to not prepare and come on set and kill it.

True, foolish risks can lead to difficult consequences. But having said that, don't be so scared of failure and disappointment that you fail to dream.

As cricketers we fail all the time. You score a hundred every now and again but you get out between nought and 20 far more often. If you get 50, you feel bad because you should have got a hundred. Even if you get a hundred, you feel you should have got 150. So you're always failing.

Most young talented players I worked with over many, many years who I've met later have said, 'Oh, I wish I'd listened to you.' When you meet them later in life they regret not taking the opportunity with the talent they had.

When you go into a show, you pray it's successful, but you just don't know what's going to happen.

Pressure comes from being unprepared.

Some losses are harder to take than others. You can lose and play well. It is when you lose and don't do the things you worked on and don't do what you say you would that is difficult.

After you win, people expect you to always play so good. When that doesn't happen, it's hard to deal with.

No matter how dope you are, if you ain't really built, if you ain't put that groundwork in, you gonna flop. Nobody gonna fill those arenas.

I keep working hard day in and day out. When I get a chance to play, I try to produce the best I can.

If I do my job, take advantage of every opportunity I get out there and be in the right spot, the plays will come. When it does come, I've got to take advantage of it.

I will be happier if I crash by trying than not trying and running around behind the same guy for 70 laps.

You only miss many chances when you create many chances.

You can't do anything to a film post its release. I concentrate on working hard, giving the required inputs for the roles, having discussions with my directors and co-stars. It isn't possible to predict the fate of any film. I don't take failures to heart and successes to my head. These are part and parcel of this career.

Racing is a funny industry. One week you can be going terrible and the next week you're on top of the world. So you just keep showing up: I keep working harder to get more opportunities, but what do you do - that's life.