Steve Martin Quotes
- All Quotes
-
When I first started doing my stand-up act, I played the banjo, did comedy, magic tricks, juggled, read poetry. I stuck it all in. I didn't know you were supposed to just stand up and tell jokes. Essentially, that's what my act became: those five elements - except I dropped the poetry.
-
I was not naturally talented. I didn't sing, dance or act, though working around that minor detail made me inventive.
-
The environment changed with Martha Stewart and Enron.
-
A day with out sun shine is like..........night
-
The banjo is truly an American instrument, and it captures something about our past.
-
I think films are about having a good time, so I don't know that there's a message. The message of a film is always what a critic writes, and the fun of a film or the emotion of a film is what the audience feels.
-
The emotions of men, however, were of a different order. They were pesky annoyances, small dust devils at her feet. Her knack for causing heartbreak was innate, but her vitality often made people forgive her romantic misdeeds.
-
I was very interested in vaudeville. It was the only sort of discipline that was a five-minute act on stage, which is what I really enjoyed and saw myself doing. And I bought books on it.
-
Acting keeps me alert to people, and life. I don't know, there's something about going to work early in the morning, and having to stay alert and concentrated. Maybe that keeps your mind alive.
-
I feel good about being able to take bluegrass on to television like 'Letterman' and 'The View,' and I've heard nice things about being able to do that. I really haven't felt any negativity toward me or my music.
-
I'm for the Wall Street Occupiers. But will they accept me when they find out I sell packaged mortgage default instruments to children?
-
There are some people that will not pick up a phone and call you, but if you knock on a door and talk to them, they'll talk back to you.
-
It was so sweet backstage, you should have seen it - The Teamsters were helping Michael Moore into the trunk of his limo.
-
Despite a lack of natural ability, I did have the one element necessary to all early creativity: naïveté, that fabulous quality that keeps you from knowing just how unsuited you are for what you are about to do.
-
I happened to take a photo, and there was my wife, my dog and my banjo, all in the same shot - and I thought, "Oh, that's like a family portrait right there."
-
The course was more plodding than heroic: I did not strive valiantly against doubters but took incremental steps studded with a few intuitive leaps.
-
Comedy is a distortion of what is happening, and there will always be something happening.
-
When the person beside you is making you alert and keen and the idea of being with anyone else is not imaginable.
-
Acting is collaborative because you are working with another actor, and it's almost like a two-man juggling team. You have to really be in sync.
-
Working at the magic shop really gave me a sense of comedy because it was all jokes.
-
What is comedy? Comedy is the art of making people laugh without making them puke.
-
I studied with the Maharishi for many years, and really didn't learn that much. But one thing that he taught me, I'll never forget: 'ALWAYS...' no, wait-- 'NEVER...' no, wait, it was 'ALWAYS carry a litter bag in your car. It doesn't take up much room, and if it gets full, you can toss it out the window.'
-
What is a movie star? A movie star is many things. They can be tall, short, thin, or skinny. They can be Democrats... or skinny.
-
Before you criticize a man, walk a mile in his shoes. That way, when you do criticize him, you'll be a mile away and have his shoes.