Quotes About Craftsmanship

You're not turning the picture over to a system or a process, you are the process, and the most important thing is to have things exactly as you want them.

I have no interest in teaching writers how to sell. I want to teach them how to write. If the process is sound, the product will take care of itself, and sales are likely to follow.

Novels are not about expressing yourself, they're about something beautiful, funny, clever and organic. Self-expression ? Go and ring a bell in a yard if you want to express yourself.

Every actor just wants good writing.

I'm in the kitchen five days a week, no matter what, and one or two of those days I'm on the line. Not because I have to be, but because I want to be.

It's in my blood. My great-grandfather made wine and it's a tradition I want to pass on to my son.

Writing a picture book is like writing 'War and Peace' in Haiku.

Nineteenth-century children made work fun by having friends join in. In this "wool-picking bee," the kids got wool ready for spinning by picking out the sticks and burrs. "Talk and laugh," said Darlene, "but do a good job. You wouldn't want any twigs in there if your mom was knitting your woolen underwear!

like the twig furniture she made, thinking it was going to make us rich, only she's shit with a hammer and nails and the stuff ended up being deadly. You were practically begging for a colonoscopy if you sat on it.

He kept repeating the story, adjusting it a touch each time, as if he were a tailor working on a jacket, taking in a bit of fabric here, letting out a seam there, then stepping back to consider what fit what best.

As surely as the embroidery stitches in Annie's gown were done by Cinna's hand, the frosted flowers on the cake were done by Peeta's.

Tigris had said to trust her, and he did. Only his cousin's cleverness with a needle had saved him so far.

It's not hard to write poorly. But to write something good, it has to be revised.

The films I love are very precise, and every shot means something; every shot should convey something new.

Each of my garments is something special in itself. You give all your energy to each piece, to each creation, and I have no favourite. I love all of them equally.

It's all in the writing. The writing has got to be there. Whether that's dialogue or character, or whatever, it doesn't matter. As long as they've done something special, than you can do something special.

Traditionally, those that work in fashion have always had the point of view that items made by hand have their own aura and are something special.

I think there's something special about getting a moment perfect or near perfect. In a film, you can do that.

Anyone who says it's so easy to write a country hit and that it's just a formula - well, try it sometime. If it was that easy, everybody would be doing it.

I'm somewhat old-fashioned, and I still talk about playing a part. I don't talk about my work - 'I've seen some of your work' - there's not much work in it, is there?

Furniture should always be comfortable. And always have a piece of art that you made somewhere in the home.

Even though we try not to be nostalgic about drawing from old music, I'm always inspired by things like old Cole Porter songs or the words in the Gershwin songs or even Stephen Sondheim, where there's a real craft to them but it isn't only that you're hearing the words it's that it links so well with the music.

I try to find little things that you can do to move the song along and things that serve the song.

I've always said there aren't great composers- there are great songs.