Quotes from Lynda Obst

My goal has been to learn how to get movies made without losing sight of the reasons I began. I have had to learn to recognize the insidious nature of the beast without becoming one.

Information is currency. ... Power is a place as well as a verb; it is inside the information tent.

The only way I can access all my strength is to relax. ... The paradox is that you must learn to be relaxed while using all your power.

Everything can be undone, including success.

nerve, not talent, is the one necessary and sufficient trait for success. (Wouldn't it be ideal if it were talent? But talent with no nerve is like the sound of one hand clapping.

It is just as important to move on in the wake of stunning success as in the wake of disaster.

Ego problems are endemic in every walk of life, but in the movie business egomaniacs are megalomaniacs.

Self-love knows no impediment.

Love and friendship, two of life's abiding rewards, are endangered species in Hollywood. People crave both, mistaking alliance for friendship, lust for love, and ambition for both.

When I was starting out, the first women studio heads and writers were just getting into their perches - development execs learning their chops.

Every single one of us who has been a Woman in Film for more than five minutes is sick of the phrase Women in Film.

The lack of women directors is a sad fact of life. Kathryn Bigelows thrilling Best Director win may help turn things around.

Directing is the last frontier for women in the movie business. We are studio heads, we are producers and we are writers, but we are not directors in any numbers.

Breakthroughs, in art, in culture, in personality, come when tackling the unexpected.

In most fields of endeavor there are no easy jobs; there are only graceful ways of performing difficult ones.

What turns a work crisis into a life crisis is the infusion of dread.

Always remember the famous adage about the movie business: You can't make a living, you can only get rich.

[On filmmaking:] Cardinal rule: It's a youth business.

Recognizing that the movie business was the entertainment business that wasn't moving fast enough to fill my creative and financial coffers was an impetus to grow, and that has taken me and so many of my colleagues into a larger world.