Quotes from Steve Martin

You have to get comfortable [with your work], you really have to know what you're doing, and it has to be almost boring to you to be able to do it well.

Anytime you look at anything that's considered artistic, there's a commercial world around it: the ballet, opera, any kind of music. It can't exist without it.

Lacy was just as happy alone as with company. When she was alone, she was potential; with others she was realized.

The thing about the banjo is, when you first hear it, it strikes many people as 'What's that?' There's something very compelling about it to certain people; that's the way I was; that's the way a lot of banjo players and people who love the banjo are.

Chaos in the midst of chaos isn't funny, but chaos in the midst of order is.

I think there are people out there writing original bluegrass songs, but it's hard to get them out on the air.

No art comes from the conscious mind.

You want to be a bit compulsive in your art or craft or whatever you do.

The presence of excessive wealth puts an unnatural spin on the appreciation of art.

Mirabelle is not affected by a man's failures to approach her, as her own self-depreciating attitude never allows the idea that he would in the first place.

I was very interested in vaudeville. It was the only sort of discipline that was a five-minute act on stage, which is what I really enjoyed and saw myself doing. And I bought books on it.

With comedy, you never know until you put it in front of an audience. You shoot it and a year later you have no idea if it's going to work. And then you get the response. It's great when it's good.

Acting keeps me alert to people, and life. I don't know, there's something about going to work early in the morning, and having to stay alert and concentrated. Maybe that keeps your mind alive.

Anyway, seeking work is a tad difficult given the poor design of the streets with their prohibitive curbs and driveways that don't quite line up.

You kill me and I'll see that you never work in this town again.

Thankfully, persistence is a great substitute for talent.

I'm enamored with the art world.

He never complicates a desire by overthinking it, unlike Mirabelle, who spins a cocoon around an idea until it is immobile.

An apology? Bah! Disgusting! Cowardly! Beneath the dignity of any gentleman, however wrong he might be.

I happened to take a photo, and there was my wife, my dog and my banjo, all in the same shot - and I thought, "Oh, that's like a family portrait right there."

There is one thing I would break up over, and that is if she caught me with another woman. I wont stand for that.

I've always believed that there are funny people everywhere, but they're just not comedians. In fact, some of my best comedic inspirations were not professional entertainers.

It's funny that some ideas start with a little "What if?" and then suddenly you're spending a million dollars to shoot the scene and hoping that it works.

I believe you should place a woman on a pedestal: high enough so you can look up her dress.