Quotes About Craftsmanship

Out of the thousand writers huffing and puffing through movieland, there are scarcely fifty men and women of wit and talent... Yet, in a curious way, there is not much difference between the product of a good writer and a bad one. They both have to toe the same mark.

Witches are the kind of more traditional, home and family, craft people - so they're the ones who are making things; crocheting shawls and things like that. But then they also have that slightly confident, dangerous, edge. I always see them as having very extreme hair, either amazingly beautiful straight hair or kind of wild.

The greatest artist has no conception which a single block of white marble does not potentially contain within its mass, but only a hand obedient to the mind can penetrate to this image.

Without craftsmanship, inspiration is a mere reed shaken in the wind.

There is still a lot to be said for the well-made, witty, clever, three-act comedy.

Thom Browne is like a wizard when it comes to clothes. Even though his suits are so shrunken, they feel like pajamas.

I'm a wizard at poetry.

I'm one of those writers who can't talk about what they're working on. The entire four years I was writing 'House of Sand and Fog,' my wife never saw a word of it. I just have to keep it in the womb, and then everyone can have a crack at it.

With couture, the great thing is that each piece has its own character, and you have space to explore and continue themes season after season.

I don't have any theories about acting, and I don't think about how to do it, except that an actor shouldn't take himself too seriously, and shouldn't try to make acting something it isn't.

I think that writers are best served by sticking to their writing. Not having loads of theories about the best way to position the writing. I think that if the writing is good and the point of view is strong, the writing is going to take care of itself.

Architecture doesn't come from theory. You don't think your way through a building.

The two things that are going to make you a better baker without even trying are a scale and a thermometer in your oven.

They say making laws is like making sausages. You shouldn't watch. It's the same for acting, especially for the actor who works unconsciously.

You don't need a machine to make pasta: a rolling pin and a fast hand can create a smooth, if thick, sheet.

Richard Lewis is the master at taking a joke that he's told a million times in a row in the past year, on the road, and making it look like he's pulling it out of thin air.

But there's a thin line between songwriting and arranging.

A writer is an artist. They're creating things out of thin air.

To me, the writer's main job is to just make the story unscroll in such a way that the reader is snared - she's right there, seeing things happen and caring about them. And if you dedicate yourself to this job, the meanings more or less take care of themselves. That's the theory, anyway.

If I am a cup maker, I'm interested in making the best cup I possibly can. My effort goes into that cup, not what people think about it.

My hand is the extension of the thinking process - the creative process.

All the great chefs I know - Thomas Keller, Jean-Georges Vongerichten - they are technicians first.

I'm not the fastest, the strongest, the most athletic, the tallest. But in order for me to be good at what I do, I have to focus on my craft so much that it alleviates those other things. I can't have personal relationships like other people do. I can't spend time on that.

A line will take us hours maybe; Yet if it does not seem a moment's thought, our stitching and unstitching has been naught.