Quotes About Persistence

Books are sharks... because sharks have been around for a very long time. There were sharks before there were dinosaurs, and the reason sharks are still in the ocean is that nothing is better at being a shark than a shark.

It was a fight for a very long time. After the end of the first season, all that was done.

Sometimes things can take a very long time and still not be very good. It took us all of evolutionary history just to get where we are today, for instance, and mostly where we are today is on the couch.

I'm always intrigued by authors who say, 'This book took 17 drafts.' They're very clear about it. I couldn't possibly count the number of times... So many of these stories I worked on for a very long time and wrote them, set them aside, rewrote them, worked on something else - they were never far from reach; they informed each other.

'Bonfire' was kicking around for a very long time. It was an idea I wanted to explore for a television show. Then I was given this weird gift of time when 'Jessica Jones' finished season one. I got really organized and just kind of banged it out, but it took a long time. It took two years to even have a first draft.

I wanted to have the no. 1 show on the Discovery channel. I went for it for a very long time, and I was knocking on every door in L.A. that would answer, and sleeping in front of Discovery's office, probably. It wasn't working, so I decided to regroup and take a break from knocking on doors.

I had wanted to be a writer for a very long time, and I had started a lot of books and failed to finish them. I had this terrible pattern of beginning manuscripts and then just losing steam, and I had begun to believe that I just didn't have it in me.

I realized a very long time ago, that I was never going to be the guy who, 'Oh, you look so big, let's push him in the main event and see,' or, 'Oh, this guy's got the best physique ever, let's put him in the main event and see.' It was always going to be the hard way.

I've been working really hard in this business for a very long time and I've had my share of ups and downs - and to be honest, most of them have been downs. It's a motivation point.

As a veteran of many campaigns, I know how important it is not let up in the last few days.

Though I am not a veteran actor yet, I will do my best based on what I learned from previous experiences.

If you're a writer, write. You just keep writing. And if you're a filmmaker, you keep doing what you can to keep telling your stories; you don't stay on the one. Keep moving forward and doing what you can to tell whatever story you can tell, be it via writing, be it via filming it.

You'll encounter difficulties at any job, and the best way for me to get through them is via endurance.

If I were to try to break into the world of modern dance, after the first few rejections the logical response might be, practice even more. But after the 12,000th rejection, maybe I should realize this isn't a viable career option.

As a kid, I liked to write, but I didn't think that was a viable career choice. My dream, actually, was to be a white girl rapper and join Salt-N-Pepa - which obviously was a much more viable career choice.

It's hard to chase a vibe and catch a vibe.

We've managed to have a long career that is still quite vibrant, yet we've never had to kow-tow to record companies who said we weren't commercial enough.

I write a book a year while creating TV and film projects. And being a writer isn't just writing: I have to chase down paychecks and manage foreign tax payments. I maintain a vibrant relationship with readers and bloggers. And when it comes to Hollywood, I typically have to have fifteen business meetings in the hopes that one leads to a project.

I struggled for 15 years in this business before Miami Vice came along.

I think I really would have quit if I hadn't gotten 'Inherent Vice'. Or maybe I would have just shriveled up and died.

Going to rehearsals was too depressing, and missing rehearsals was also depressing, so it was like a vicious circle.

You're made to feel ugly, and I made ugly beautiful. Just by sheer persistence. Nobody has the right to say that I am ugly, and I will not be a professional victim, you know. Sorry!

On paper, I refuse to position myself as a victim and say, 'Oh, see, this is hard for me, and I'm never going to get any work because they're never gonna look for a half-French, half-Cambodian girl.' I've always said, 'Carry on and work on your job, and at some point, it'll come.'

My brother and I moved out to Hollywood initially to be a band, and where we lived, there was crime all over with my brother and I being the victims sometimes.