Arts

When it comes to the arts, passion should always trump common sense. You aren't just following dreams, you're reaching for your destiny.

Rejection might sting, but my feeling is that it often has very little to do with you.

Don't be afraid to fail. If you don't go, you'll never know. You just have to be bold and go out there and take your chances.

If I had known my own limitations, I never would have taken the risk. And the risk led to one of my greatest personal and professional achievements.

Passion, not profit, should always be your guide.

You can't control how smart you are, how funny you are, how good-looking you are. The one thing you can control in your life is how hard you work.

I implore you to never back away from fear, but instead, dive into it. I'm talking about the kind of inhibiting fear that erupts out of the idea of failure, or the possibility of making mistakes, and that nagging belief that you're actually a fraud and not good enough.

Turn on the music really, really loud before you leave the house. It changes the way you walk out in the world.

There's a way that the force of disappointment can be alchemized into something that will paradoxically renew you. You either learn it or you're undone by it.

Every step is a first step. Every brushstroke is a test. Every scene is a lesson. Every shot is a school. So let the learning continue.

You may be shy. You may be tentative. And even, at times, you may be fragile. But you have to protect your own voice, your creative spirit, no matter what it costs.

One of the greatest gifts you can give yourself, right here, right now, is to decide, without apology, to commit to the journey, and not to the outcome.