Quotes by Garson Kanin

“Amateurs hope, professionals work.”

“A man ninety years old was asked to what he attributed his longevity. I reckon, he said, with a twinkle in his eye, it because most nights I went to bed and slept when I should have sat up and worried.”

“There are thousands of causes for stress, and one antidote to stress is self-expression. Thats what happens to me every day. My thoughts get off my chest, down my sleeves and onto my pad.”

“Books are men of higher stature; the only men that speak aloud for future times to hear.”

“The best part of ones life is the working part, the creative part. Believe me, I love to succeed... However, the real spiritual and emotional excitement is in the doing.”

“So it can be seen that the trouble with the motion-picture art was (and is) that it is too much an industry; and the trouble with the motion picture industry is that it is too much an art. It is out of this basic contradiction that most of the ills of the form arise.”

She looked Spencer over, tip to toe, as though she were considering buying him. Then she smiled her friendliest smile and said, Youre rather short, arent you? Dont worry honey, said Mankiewicz, trying desperately to extinguish Spencers glare. Hell cut you down to size.

Whenever Im asked what college I attended Im tempted to reply Thornton Wilder.

In a professional once engaged the performance of the job comes first.

Amateurs hope. Professionals work.