Ben Stiller Quotes

My writing was liberated once I abandoned acting.

So many people think that practicing an art is a good way to make a living. Practicing an art, no matter how well or badly, is a way to make your soul grow, for heaven's sake. I'm talking about singing in the shower, I'm talking about dancing to the radio, I'm talking about writing a poem to a friend.

Writing does not exclude the full life; it demands it.

You must write for yourself, above all. That is your only hope of creating something beautiful.

People should practice an art in order to make their souls grow and not to make money or become famous. Paint a picture. Write.

My advice to women who habitually gravitate toward musicians is that they learn how to play an instrument and start making music themselves. Not only will they see that it's not that hard, but sometimes I think women just want to be the very thing they think they want to sleep with. Because if you're bright enough--no offense, Tawny Kitaen--sleeping with a musician probably won't be enough for you to feel good about yourself. Even if he writes you a song for your birthday. Don't you know that a musician who writes a song for you is like a baker you're dating making you a cake? Aim higher.

I was inspired by lots of people, certainly in acting and in writing and stuff, but I never wanted to be somebody else.

Writing was my route to creative expression, and I needed to write about the things that interested me.

I became an actress because my mom wanted me to become an actress. It took me until my mid-30s to realize I actually didn't. I actually wanted to write and direct and be more involved in politics and humanitarian issues.

I'll always take an artistic endeavor over a career move.

Acting was a way of me finding myself, which I think is the case of a lot of actors, regardless of where they come from.

My identity started developing through the songs I was writing.

I've spent most of my life writing and developing everything that I've wanted to be in - which is why I started writing in the first place.

I've enjoyed the process of understanding who I am through my work and who I am in relation to others: the intense collaboration that acting requires and thrives in.

I don't feel I have to be Jackson Browne. Still, I like to say something.

I think I'm just doing me, my music, my shows, and my stories.

Everyone has doors in the living room of their lives that they assume are locked. Doors that lead to artistic expression. People say "I have no talent -- I can't dance or sing or paint or write poetry or play an instrument." More often than not the doors are not locked, just closed. One may turn the handle, open the door and pass through into a larger life space.

I continue to write. It's just one of those things that I do. I'll have periods when I write and periods when I don't. But you don't want it to become a discipline really. If it becomes a discipline, it becomes a chore and that's no good.

There are so many selves in everybody, and just to explore and exploit one is wrong, dead wrong, for the creative person.

Writing is the only way I have to explain my own life to myself.

Nobody will stop you from creating. Do it tonight. Do it tomorrow. That is the way to make your soul grow - whether there is a market for it or not! The kick of creation is the act of creating, not anything that happens afterward. I would tell all of you watching this screen: Before you go to bed, write a four line poem. Make it as good as you can. Don't show it to anybody. Put it where nobody will find it. And you will discover that you have your reward.

It was only when I started making short films in college and I was looking for girls to play the me-ish parts that I thought, Well, maybe I'm just going to try doing this myself before somebody else comes in and handles it. For a long time my acting was just a marriage of convenience between me and these characters that I was writing.

I clearly remember writing songs [when I was young] and the power that it gave me of feeling like somebody. My whole life changed when I wrote those songs, even before anyone ever heard them. It wasn't a commercial thing.

Writing is almost a place of dreams for me, and I don't have to give up anything to do it.

I started painting as a hobby when I was little. I didn't know I had any talent. I believe talent is just a pursued interest. Anybody can do what I do.