Francis Ford Coppola Quotes

You can't be afraid to embarrass yourself sometimes.

My advice to female directors is not to wait until you feel like your ideas have been pre-certified or until you think you've gotten some approval for them. Then it's too late! Follow your gut. That's hard to do, but the only way to be original.

No one got anywhere by being too scared to open their mouth in case nobody laughed.

When in doubt, make a fool of yourself. There is a microscopically thin line between being brilliantly creative and acting like the most gigantic idiot on earth. So what the hell, leap.

Work on something that matters. Have courage.

I think if you believe in an idea, then you should put it out there and be as original to the thought as possible without worrying about the risk.

Nobody knows what they're doing, so don't be afraid to try things.

I'm not scared to sing songs. I'm not scared to walk out the front door and make a mistake.

Everyone has ideas. They may be too busy or lack the confidence or technical ability to carry them out. But I want to carry them out. It is a matter of getting up and doing it.

I think a lot of young people have incredible ideas and incredible insights, but sometimes they wait before they go give their life to something. What I did was just to start a little earlier.

Don't ever try and be like anybody else and don't be afraid to take risks.

I realized I really liked the screen. I knew it was a challenge, but I wasn't afraid of risk.

You have to face things, have faith in what you do and go for it. Think, 'What's the worst that could happen?'

Have the courage of your desire.

Don't be afraid to look silly.

When you hold things back, when you don't commit completely to your ideas and trust completely in your own instincts, you are guaranteeing your own failure - even if you end up having commercial success.

I tend to do things that I'm very frightened of. That's what I do.

I tried to stir the imagination and enthusiasms of students to take risks, to do what they were most afraid of doing, to widen their horizons of action.

If people are making fun of you then you're probably doing something right.

I wish I had less fear about creating my own parts.

Whenever I get stuck on something, I'm like, 'What would I do if I wasn't afraid? What would I write if I wasn't afraid? What would I say in this situation if I wasn't afraid?'

Just make the comics you want to see, and people will notice.

For me, aggression means not to be shy and to do what your mind tells you.

A lot of guys... they want to take the big shot, and they talk about it because they're scared of it. You never heard me talk about it. You heard a lot of guys talk about it. But you don't have to talk about it, because if you have the confidence in yourself, and your team believes in you, you don't fear anything. You don't fear losing.

I think if you have too much fear, you're never going to break ground or develop.