Quotes About Excellence

When a building is as good as that one, f#*@ the art.

It is not a question of skimming the surface of the art, it must be probed to its depths, for to seize upon superficial things only is to degenerate into mediocrity and obscurity.

Artists who seek perfection in everything are those who can't attain it in anything.

As an artist your first loyalty is to your art. Unless this is the case, you're going to be a second-rate artist.

He only moves toward the perfection of his art whose criticism surpasses his achievement.

There was no point in doing art if you were going to be second-rate.

Most works of art are, necessarily, bad...; one suffers through the many for the few.

First of all a natural talent is required; for when Nature opposes, everything else is in vain; but when Nature leads the way to what is most excellent, instruction in the art takes place.

I go to gyms quite a bit, martial arts gyms, MMA gyms. I try to train with the best people, with who's who in the martial arts, just to keep myself sharp.

Without an elite in the arts, we have no leaders, which is to say we have no vision, which is to say we have no arts.

You do have to be fairly selfish when you have a gift. You cannot afford to let too many outside things get in the way.

I guess they call it suicide, but I'm to full to swallow my pride I can't stand losing you The Police Dying is an art, like everything else. I do it exceptionally well.

Art is a by-product of an honest and successful attempt to do something well.

The most glorious thing about working in the collaborative art is when you have somebody like Susan Kingsley or Kathy Bates who are better than your play.

Great art is created only through diligent and painstaking effort to perfect and polish oneself.

I doubt if there is a single really excellent art school now available in New York.

A proof of really great art is that it is generally true - it seldom falls into the misapprehensions to which minor art is liable.

Art is never defect-free. Things that are remarkable never meet spec, because that would make them standardized, not worth talking about.

It's not communism, it's shouldn't be that everybody gets a try no matter how good or bad they are. It's our profession and our art, so we should eventually strive to be working with the best people.

... Geniuses have a little extra something. There's that little something that you know is a little different.

What-e're thou art, Act well thy part.

We use important words too frequently and they lose value; for instance, charm and great. An actor or musician often is proclaimedgreat when we really mean he is outstanding.

Beerbohm was a genius of the purest kind. He stands at the summit of his art.

Mel [Bochner] sets a very high standard. He expects only the best and most thoughtful and rigorous examinations, not only of the history of art but your own practice.