Quotes About Work

Nothing is so threatening to conventional values as a man who does not want to work or does not want to work at a challenging job, and most people are disturbed if a man in a well- paying job indicates ambivalence or dislike toward it.

Know your career values: Not your parents' values, not your friends', but what you personally value in work. For me, it's things like moving quickly and scrappily, ownership and authority over my work, and flexibility.

Actors are not a great breed of people, I don't think. I count myself as something of an exception. I grew up in the theater, and my values were about the work, and not being a star or anything like that. I'm not spoiled in that way, and if I fight for something, it's about the work, not about how big my trailer is.

Starting with the values that feel authentic to who you are can serve as a compass to find more meaningful, fulfilling work.

No, I always felt that amongst my core fans- because there was a level of popularity that I had in the mid '80s that was sort of a bump on the scale- they fundamentally understood the values that are at work in my work.

Because I was such a student of pop culture growing up, I love that on the list of things that I got to work on in my first years out of college were 'Scream' and 'Dawson's Creek' and, ultimately now, 'The Vampire Diaries,' which generations below me grew up on and can quote. I love that. I think that is the coolest thing in the world.

The people I worked for before I was doing 'Vampire Diaries' were very generous to me.

I made films, like 'Shadow of the Vampire,' and I did not like the work I did on it and then Willem Dafoe was nominated for the Oscar. I made films like 'The Adventures of Pinocchio' with Martin Landau. I thought I would get nominated and it flopped. You never know.

Stan Van Gundy is something else. He's the guy that you come to love. You get around him and he's a very personable guy, but when it's time to work, you don't want to mess with him.

When people asked me what I did, I'd say, 'I work in publishing', and when they then say, 'What side of it?', I say, 'Supply' - no doubt leaving them to think I drive the books around in a van and deliver them.

'The Dick Van Dyke Show' was the most fun I ever had and the most creative period of my life.

Van Gaal was always very intensive with his tactics. You had to work more with your head than your legs.

Van Gaal is a teacher, pays attention to everything you do, but Hiddink is more linked to the players. He gives more freedom than Van Gaal, but I worked with both of them pretty well.

Someone like Van Johnson can spend 52 weeks a year on the road because he doesn't have a family.

I don't believe in locking myself in a vanity van. I prefer to stay back on the set and observe.

We shot that in all the real places where Van Gogh worked.

Working exterior nights in Vancouver, when it's raining and snowing, is a little daunting, when you haven't slept.

I worked with her on the second season of Dark Angel in Vancouver, one of my first real jobs.

It was like there's got to be some way to stay working and stay productive in Los Angeles. TV is that kind of thing for an actor. Unless you get stuck in one of these shows where you have to go to Vancouver.

There were days when I was literally running for hours in the forest and then I'd jump on a plane and then I'd be on the 'Nurse Jackie' set. I was going from Vancouver to New York every three days. For me, it was really invigorating.

After I graduated in Vancouver, I had been working on a book about war-affected children and land mines with the foreign minister - he was working at a place on campus and hired me. I then got a job as a Human Rights and Refugees Officer in London, and I loved working there.

With physical prep work, you know if you go to the gym, you will get size. There's no chance it won't happen. The emotional prep work is a variable. You could step onto the set one day and have a disconnect with your thoughts and feelings and have a rough day acting because you can't quite tap into what you need.

A lot of times, we talk about black people as if being black is all they are. They get up, go to work... and are as complex and interesting and variable as any other group of people. We don't often capture that or write about it.

Every job is a blessing. Everyone has to take into account what is available. Are you paying rent, who do you get to work with? There are a lot of variables in the job. What I'm drawn to is things that I don't completely understand maybe, and want to get a better feel for it.