Bill Viola Quotes

A lot of what making art is, is just being open, and empty. And putting yourself in the right place for things to, literally, come together.

Bill Viola

• Art
• Together

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Quotes to Explore

• A stale article, if you dip it in a good, warm, sunny smile, will go off better than a fresh one that you've scowled upon.

  

  Nathaniel Hawthorne
  • Good
  • Smile
  • Warm

• Never speak to an invalid from behind, nor from the door, nor from any distance from him, nor when he is doing anything. The official politeness of servants in these things is so grateful to invalids, that many prefer, without knowing why, having none but servants about them.

  

  Florence Nightingale
  • Why
  • Door
  • Speak

• When I first got back from the war, I said, 'I'm gonna write the Great American Novel about the Vietnam War.' So I sat down and wrote 1,700 pages of sheer psychotherapy drivel. It was first person, and there would be pages about wet socks and cold feet.

  

  Karl Marlantes
  • Great
  • American
  • War

• Though we may know Him by a thousand names, He is one and the same to us all.

  

  Mahatma Gandhi
  • May
  • Know
  • Same

• Elvis was a big influence to my music, but Loretta Lynn was, as well.

  

  Tanya Tucker
  • Music
  • Influence
  • Big

• It would be spiteful to put a Jellyfish in a trifle.

  

  Karl Pilkington
  • Would
  • Put
  • Spiteful

• Like baseball, food will never go out of style; we will always need to eat and we will always find it entertaining. I think of food TV this way - all the fun and none of the calories.

  

  Gail Simmons
  • Fun
  • Food
  • Style

• The most striking development of the great depression of 1929 is a profound skepticism of the future of contemporary society among large sections of the American people.

  

  C. L. R. James
  • People
  • Great
  • American

• Excellence is not a skill, it's an attitude.

  

  Ralph Marston
  • Attitude
  • Excellence
  • Skill

• I don't have a telephone. If I had a lot of money, I wouldn't have one.

  

  Sam Crawford
  • Money
  • Lot
  • Telephone

• When it comes to having a central nervous system, and the ability to feel pain, hunger, and thirst, a rat is a pig is a dog is a boy.

  

  Ingrid Newkirk
  • Pain
  • Boy
  • Dog

• I was a huge fan of video games; I wanted to write something, and I saw the tools at my fingertips to upload a video to my audience, and that's why I'm here today. I think that freedom and the lack of gatekeepers, combined with people's passion, is what really the true spirit of Internet geekdom is about.

  

  Felicia Day
  • People
  • Why
  • True

• I tell people all the time, 'Don't give up.' We get almost to our blessing, whether you believe spiritually in God or in a good force and an evil force. We get almost to our blessing, and we quit. Don't stop.

  

  Sam Childers
  • People
  • Up
  • Time

• I used to have the very standard worldview. I can easily identify with people who see computers getting faster and smarter, and technology getting more and more beneficial, without seeing the other side.

  

  Jaan Tallinn
  • People
  • Technology
  • Computers

• I find the whole situation of confronting an audience terrifying.

  

  Sam Shepard
  • Audience
  • Find
  • Situation

• I finished 'The Hunger Games' trilogy, and I love most anything with zombies.

  

  Rachel Gibson
  • Hunger
  • Finished
  • Zombies

• I'm a vegetarian and very much active in regards to how I feel about animal rights and protecting animals and giving animals a voice. But at the same time, I appreciate and respect other people's decisions to eat meat. The only thing that I hope is that people are educated, that they're aware, that they're living a conscious lifestyle.

  

  Abbie Cornish
  • People
  • Time
  • Hope

• A lot of people who want to cook with less fat are surprised by that. You can cook vegetables in a little water in a covered pan and then throw the fat into the residual liquid to coat them.

  

  Sally Schneider
  • People
  • Water
  • Fat

• Public appearances are a headache. I hold mine down to a minimum.

  

  Jack Nicklaus
  • Down
  • Mine
  • Appearances

• I do not like the raw sound of the human voice in unison unless it is under the discipline of music.

  

  Flannery O'Connor
  • Music
  • Voice
  • Discipline

• I think whenever you have a common goal with someone, you're going to bond. It's really hard to get two people together and be like, 'Hey guys, why don't you just bond!' But if you say, 'Listen, I need you guys to build this house, or I need you to do this or I need you to make this movie,' you'll get to work and you'll get close.

  

  Ben Schnetzer
  • People
  • Work
  • Why

• Once you understand that someone has Tourette and that they can't help their tics, it takes away the distraction. And you can engage your compassion. You feel for them. You embrace them.

  

  Dylan McDermott
  • Help
  • Compassion

• If I wasn't an actor, I think I'd have gone mad. You have to have extra voltage, some extra temperament to reach certain heights. Art is a little bit larger than life - it's an exhalation of life and I think you probably need a little touch of madness.

  

  Laurence Olivier
  • Life
  • Art
  • Mad

• A lot of what making art is, is just being open, and empty. And putting yourself in the right place for things to, literally, come together.

  

  Bill Viola
  • Art
  • Together