Quotes About Insight

Do not, under any circumstances, belittle a work of fiction by trying to turn it into a carbon copy of real life; what we search for in fiction is not so much reality but the epiphany of truth.

Of the 200 light bulbs that didn't work, every failure told me something that I was able to incorporate into the next attempt.

When you have a character to work with, you carry them around in a strange way - they make you look at the world in a different way.

Whether it is photography, assemblage art or filmmaking, my work is to see beneath the surface.

The deepest quality of a work of art will always be the quality of the mind of the producer...No good novel will ever proceed from a superficial mind.

You have to know what's happening in the locker rooms, you have to know what's happening at the grass-roots level. That's the best way to work.

Inspiration more often comes during the work than before it, because the largest part of the job of an artist is to listen to the work.

The first thing, the main thing, about how I work is I need to understand the character.

Our awareness is the key. It is our awareness more than our work effort that gets the right result right now.

The best crime novels are not about how a detective works on a case; they are about how a case works on a detective.

It's so interesting to watch Ben Stiller work because he just knows what's funny.

When I want any, good head work done; I always choose a man, if possible with a long nose.

I have always had a strong interest in history and finding out about the past can be remarkably helpful with working out the future, too.

If we live truly, we shall see truly.

A lot of my work is with children and there's a reason for that, because they really level you.

The successful men of action are not sufficiently self-observant to know exactly on what their success depends.

If there's one thing I know, it's men. I ought to. It's been my life's work.

Only a literary work that reveals an unknown fragment of human existence has a reason for being.

For me, the poetry in a work is that which makes visible the invisible.

So often actors only mix with actors, which is quite incestuous, and doesn't give them the insight into how other people work.

I can do pretty good work in various short forms, but anything over 1400 words, I'd be of no use. I like to say I'm a river navigator. I need to see the shore behind the shore.

Anytime you work with animals, you begin to see more humanity in them.

Mike Holmes is insanely talented and his work bristles with the kind of humanity and insight that is rare in comics – or in humans, for that matter.

A writer judging his own work is like deceived husband - he is frequently the last person to appreciate the true state of affairs.