So when you spot violence, or bigotry, or intolerance or fear or just garden-variety misogyny, hatred or ignorance, just look it in the eye and think, 'The good outnumber you, and we always will.'
Patton OswaltRead
All the truly great stand-ups say, 'I go onstage, and I work on jokes. The inspiration will happen while I'm doing my work.' To me, in the end, the surest thing is work.
Interpretation
Hard work leads to inspiration and creativity.
In this quote, Patton Oswalt emphasizes that true inspiration does not come from waiting or hoping for it but is a product of diligent effort. By focusing on the process of creating and working on their craft, artists and performers can find the inspiration they seek.
In practice
In a motivational speech about pursuing your passions.
So when you spot violence, or bigotry, or intolerance or fear or just garden-variety misogyny, hatred or ignorance, just look it in the eye and think, 'The good outnumber you, and we always will.'
As you get older as a comedian and keep doing it, what you actually start to cherish on stage is not the build-up to the jokes, but how comfortable you can be in the silence and the non-laughing parts, and how long you can take the audience without a laugh to then get a huge reaction.
Meal isn't over when I'm full. Meal's over when I hate myself.
Wars are usually really popular with people that aren't gonna be affected by them. 'Cause it's just entertainment, and it's just weird, like, 'Well, we've got to show the world that we're strong.' No we don't. And by the way, that has nothing to do with you. Why are you equating yourself with that... you know what I mean?
A lot of nerds aren't aware they're nerds. A geek has thrown his hands up to the universe and gone, 'I speak Klingon - who am I fooling? You win! I'm just gonna openly like what I like.' Geeks tend to be a little happier with themselves.
I really had to imagine the kind of person that I would have been if I had never left my hometown. I don't think I would have been a very pleasant person.
Faith makes it possible to achieve that which man's mind can conceive and believe.
You have to have a high conception, not of what you are doing, but of what you may do one day: without that, there's no point in working.
Perpetual optimism is a force multiplier. I am talking about a gung-ho attitude that says 'we can change things here, we can achieve awesome goals, we can be the best. 'Spare me the grim litany of the 'realist;' give me the unrealistic aspirations of the optimist any day.
Give yourself five minutes to consider how you can turn a miserable situation to your benefit and that light bulb is going to click on.
You don't actually do a project; you can only do action steps related to it. When enough of the right action steps have been taken, some situation will have been created that matches your initial picture of the outcome closely enough that you can call it "done.
In the years ahead of me, I learned that the world is actually filled with people ready to tell you how likely something is, and what it means to be realistic. But what I have also learned is that no one, no one truly knows what is possible until they go and do it.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.