Quotes About Craftsmanship

Daniel Day-Lewis and Sean Penn to me are the two best actors of all time. I'm just glad to have the pleasure to be in an era that they're acting while I'm acting. They're probably the best actors in my mind.

I still get enormous pleasure and a sense of fulfillment out of writing a book that I'm proud of. I see myself as a bit like a jewel-maker who can sit back and admire his work.

I think I get certain pleasure from writing what I'm performing.

Learn your instrument. Be honest. Don't do anything phony. There is so much crap floating around. There is plenty of room for a bit of honest writing.

You don't need a college degree to be a good carpenter, welder, plumber, auto mechanic, member of the armed forces, or firefighter.

I can make 10 jackets of the same colour, same two pockets and same length, that will look like 10 completely different jackets when you put them on. It's about the way they are cut - it makes them look and feel completely different and move differently, and that's a never-ending study. People who wear my clothes will know exactly what I mean.

Peace goes into the making of a poem as flour goes into the making of bread.

I have a high guilt quotient. A poem can go through as many as 50 or 60 drafts. It can take from a day to two years-or longer.

Manipulating shadows and tonality is like writing music or a poem.

I feel like I am in the service of the poem. The poem isn't something I make. The poem is something I serve.

I consider my films to be poems that are all as personal as my writing and as hand-made.

The word poet literally means maker: anything which is not well made doesn't exist.

I think a poet, like a painter, should be a craftsperson.

The poet has no greater number of muscles than the ordinary conversationalist; he merely has more highly developed muscles and better coordination. And he practises his activity according to a stricter set of rules.

Poetry is the exquisite expression of exquisite expressions.

The importance of poetry is not measured, finally, by what the poet says but by how he says it.

My father, composer Sardar Malik, used to say that a good musician should always try to imbibe good poetry. One reason why today's songs don't have a shelf life is because of inane lyrics.

There's a great deal of poetry in working out how things work, cutting bits of metal, trying to mend stuff.

When a story or part of a story comes to me, I turn it over in my mind a long time before starting to write. I might make notes or take long drives or who knows what. By the time I give myself permission to write, I know certain things, though not everything. I know where the story is headed, and I know certain crucial points along the way.

I love the classic marble inlay work of Arga.

It takes a lifetime and a half to master the classical guitar.

I would hope that my writing's cleaner than it was when I started.

I love Simone Rocha. I just think she's really clever.

More than being a star, I want to be an actor. This may sound cliched but that is how it is.